PYT
by LiraWM
Summary: "Where did you come from lady?" Arthur's POV since the moment the new architect was introduced to him until the very end of Fisher's job. Arthur x Ariadne
1. Chapter 1

"You got it?"

"Yes"

"How many tries?"

"Three"

"Age?"

"Not sure, perhaps 23.

"Impressive, I'll get the Pasiv ready"

"Thanks Arthur"

Click. Placing the phone back to my jacket's pocket, I started to fix the room. It wasn't that hard, Cobb had been having some 'tests' on the morning. After doing some minor tests I heard steps outside, I stood up and fixed my clothes to receive the new architect. And to my surprise it was a female.

I blinked a couple of time before taking the whole picture. Average height, slim, brunette, pale and a little tomboy. Cobb let her pass trough first and she started to look around with suspicion, clearly the place didn't look that trustworthy. If I was on her shoes I would definitely excused myself and call a friend and perhaps 911. But apparently the girl trusted her teacher therefore his son and that included me in the package.

Cobb didn't mind her looking around without even introducing herself, instead he walked towards the Pasiv and the two chairs fixed next to them.

"Is everything ready?"

I nodded and continued observing the girl.

"Come here Ariadne, I want to explain what we do in our business"

Cobb started to fix the cables and beckon the girl to join him on the chairs, she didn't look that pleased but reluctantly accepted his offer. He started to explain about the minor details of our job and how it is possible to go in someone's dream and see what this person has in its mind. At first she doesn't believe a word but after explaining a little further she starts to believe what Cobb is telling her. It is difficult not to be convinced by someone who specializes in extraction.

As he explains how the machine works, I approached the couple and started to fix up the cables and both needles. She freaks out a little at the sight of the silver instruments, but once Cobb calms her and tells her that she's not going to be drugged or it will cause any harm her, she accepts the procedure. I take a cotton ball from a plastic container and pour some alcohol on in. She looks at me and gives me a tiny smile, I smile back and rubbed gently the back of her wrist. I take the silver needle and look at her eyes for her approval, she nods and with care I place the needle into her. She bites her lower lip, clearly she's not used to be punctured. She'll get around it soon. I turn around and noticed that Cobb is already plugged to the machine and waits patiently. Before I punch the button the girl holds and looks at me.

"I didn't catch your name"

I blink in surprise and then I smile

"Arthur"

She smiles back and rests her back once more on the chair, looking at Cobb then again at me.

"This thing is not going to go and blow my mind right?"

I chuckle and look at her warmly.

"Not in the literal way"

And before she could retort, I pressed the button and watched as both drift into a dream. I checked my watch and put the timer on. Before heading back to my office I take a look at her and smiled walking to my office. From there I could get a clear view of how the progress of the dream was going, 5 minutes was more than enough.

I wonder how would this experience affect this young girl? Somehow I know it will be, like she put it, mind blowing. There's nothing greater for an artist to mend reality to its will. Most of the creative people in the world love how the idea looks in their head but few of them have the skills to pull it out. With this however that bridge is vanished and the idea floats naturally out of its owner's head.

I check my watch once more, 2 minutes left before they wake up. I verify some cables and the dozes; I frown and confirm the timer again, 1 minute left.

Fixing my vest from any wrinkle that might had appeared I approach them, taking caution in not to be too close to her, the first dream always comes with unexpected results. I still remember the time I awoke from my first dream and I'm sure Cobb does to, since I was the one who punched him in the face the second my eyes opened.

They started to stir, their eyes moving frenetically under their eyelids. Checking the timer once more, 30 seconds left. I place the music around them and start the song that will give Cobb the queue. The timer tells me there are 15 seconds remaining before the dream collapses. Her body starts to tense, apparently Cobb just told her she's dreaming and probably she's panicking at the moment. 10 seconds left and Cobb wakes up, sitting and removing the needles I look at him and he ignores me and waits for her to wake up. 5 left her body tenses even more, 4 she starts to move, 3 her breathe quickens, 2 some mumbling, 1 she stops breathing, 0 she opens her eyes and looks pale looking desperately for some coherence. She finds it on Cobb's eyes.

"Cause it's never just a dream is it? And a face full of glass hurts like hell. When you're in it, it feels real"

Finding it confusing his explanation she looks at me for another second point of view.

"That's why the military developed dream sharing-a training program where soldiers could strangle, stab and shoot each other, then wake up" I said before she turns back to Cobb

"How did architects get involved?"

"Someone had to design the dreams right?" Cobb looks up at me "Why don't you give us another 5 minutes?"

I limit myself to walk and fix the machine.

"Five minutes? What…? we were talking like for at least an hour"

I smile internally, oh yeah the first impression of relativity of time. I still remember that feeling.

"In a dream your mind functions more quickly. Therefore, time seems to feel more slow." Explained Cobb, while putting the needle on his arm.

"Five minutes in the real world gives you an hour in the dream world" I translate what Cobb tried to said and giving her a quick glance at her before checking the doze for five more minutes.

"Why don't you see what you can get up to in five minutes?"

She nods at Cobb then looks at me before nodding to herself, apparently convincing her mind that she wasn't going crazy. I nod at Cobb and she slowly closes her eyes, relaxing her body on the chair. I press the button and start the timer once more.

I walked back to my desk and started to check some paperwork. After 3 minutes I realize something is wrong, I glance up and see her body moving and her breathing is quickening, I frown and let the paperwork back on the desk. Approaching her I see her body shaking, I look at the timer, there's still 90 seconds on. I gulped and hope that nothing mind scaring happens inside. She starts to mutter something until I hear her scream.

"Cobb, Cobb! Let me go! Wake me up, wake me up!"

I looked at her shocked and then at Cobb. What the hell are you doing to her in there? Then my mind grasps what I suspected already… it wasn't Cobb who was doing something to her. Then Cobb starts to shake and scream.

"No Mal… No!"

Great… just what we needed, introduce the psychopath wife to the new architect. I will need to have a word with Cobb after this mess. Frowning and glaring at Cobb for causing this internal damage to the poor girl, I sighed and wait for the unavoidable to happen.

Ariadne jumps on her chair, grasping for air. I run towards her.

"Hey… hey" I sit next to her holding her right arm, she still is disturbed and her pulse is over the skies "Look at me… you're ok, you're ok" I keep rubbing her arm to comfort her, trying to make her look me in the eye and ease her pain somehow.

She holds her stomach… dear lord… I hope Mal didn't go that badly on her. She's still grasping for air, but at least her pulse is lowering.

"Why… why wouldn't I wake up?" she asks me, placing her left hand over her face. Her voice breaking. Somehow this stung me inside.

I sighed and gulped "Cause there was still some time on the clock and you can't wake up from within a dream unless you die" I told her, looking at her warmly.

"She'll need a totem" Cobb says standing up from the chair, I didn't even notice him waking up. I glance at him, my eyes reflecting a light shade of anger.

"What?" Ariadne looks at him in disbelief, I sighed and hold her right hand. Better change the subject.

"A totem it's a small-"

"That's some subconscious you've got on you Cobb. She's a real charmer!" she interrupts me and glares at Cobb, who already left the room.

Just like I thought "Oh...I see you met Mrs. Cobb"

"She's his wife?" looking at me in disbelief

"Yeap, So… a totem you need a small object, potential heavy, something you can have on you all the time that no one else knows"

"Like...like a coin? 

"No. It needs to be more unique than that" I take out my dice and show it to her" This is a loaded die" she tries to grab it and I pull it out quickly "I can't let you touch it, that would defeat the purpose. See only I know the balance and the weight of this particular loaded die. That way when you look at your totem, you know beyond a doubt that you're not in someone else's dream"

She gulps and looks at me, still a little disturbed.

"I...I don't know if you can't see what's going on or if you just don't want to, but Cobb has some serious problems that he's trying to bury down there. And I'm not about to just open my mind to someone like that!"

She gets up and storms out of the room, great just great… I look at her perhaps for the last time, a shame. I start to roll up the cables before Cobb comes back into the picture, apparently he did check with his totem that in fact we're in the real world.

"She'll be back. I've never seen anyone pick it up that quickly before. Reality is not going to be enough for her now. When she comes back...when she comes back you're going to have her building mazes"

"What are you going to do?"

"I gotta go and visit Eames"

"Eames? Now he's in Mombasa. It's Cobol's backyard"

"It's a necessary risk"

"There's plenty of good thieves" frowning while hoping he changes his mind.

"We don't just need a thief, we need a forger"

Cobb starts to fix his jacket and sighs looking at the ceiling

"She's that good?"

Checking his eyes I noticed something. I know that look; he has the same look a child has before opening a huge present on Christmas. He shakes his head and looks back at me.

"You know Eames is the best forger we know" avoiding clearly my question.

"I had never said he wasn't, but as a person he is far from likeable"

"Well you just have to deal with it, you're just pissed because of the incident in Barcelona"

Anger starts to bubble inside and I glared at him.

"It was a year ago, get over it" he tells me while picking some papers from the desk nearby. Like he's the one to talk "I must go. As usual you're in charge. When she's back start with the Penrose stairs and also stay away from her"

I frowned, not comprehending entirely what he meant by that. I looked at him with a puzzled look, he just raised his left eyebrow

"I know what went in your head when you saw her the first time. I've been in your mind before and I know you more that I ought to. So just stick to work and nothing else. You god damn well know how difficult is to find a competent architect"

I make my face look blank, free from emotions, even if I feel a little insulted that he would suggest such a thing. True she does have some of the characteristics I find attractive in a woman, but that didn't imply I would stop thinking with the head I have over the shoulders and switch to the other one, like some moron forger we know.

"You should say that to Eames when you bring him here, you know that he jumps at anything that moves"

"I will. I have no problem shooting either of you in the head if I find out that our architect quit because of you"

I rolled my eyes and sighed "Have a safe flight"

He smirked and took his portfolio from the desk and walked out the door. I looked up and checked my watch, how long would it take for her to realize she belonged in this place?


	2. Chapter 2

I took her a day, I was fixing some minor failures on the machine when I heard her clear her throat behind my back. I stood up and tried hard not to smile widely.

"Cobb said you'd be back"

She approached me a little ashamed, trying to hide a smile

"I tried not to come, but…"

"But there's nothing quite like it" understanding perfectly how she felt. I happened to me too. I gave her a small smile to calm her down.

"It's just… pure creation"

I celebrated in my head, we got her. Cobb will be so pleased to hear this news.

"Shall we take a look at some paradoxical architecture?"

She nods and walks to the chairs next to the Pasiv machine, taking off her jacket and sitting down. I raise both eyebrows in surprise, she's more convinced that I predicted. Already jumping back to an experience that might had traumatized her for life. I check on her and find that spark of thrill and curiosity on her chocolate eyes, I smirk and turn to the machine. Unrolling the cables I offer her a cotton ball sterilized with alcohol. This time she doesn't wait for me to help her out, instead she repeats the procedure I performed on her the day before. Quick learner, I like that.

"So… do you have any psychopath wives in your subconscious? I'll appreciate the warning this time"

I blink in confusion, not quiet understanding that question at first. Then I chuckle and look at her while pulling the cables towards us.

"I'm not married"

"Well how about a possessive girlfriend that would not be pleased to see another female presence in your head aside her own?"

I smile and look down at her. Why you had to be funny too?

"No, nothing like that. Besides we're not going into my subconscious, we're going into yours"

She raises an eyebrow and looks at me with suspicion

"I need to see what you're capable of, now if you please plug yourself into the Pasiv so we can start"

She nods and punctures her wrist, gulping while biting her lower lip. Not a fan of needles, just like Eames. I took my place right next to her, cleaning the back of my wrist to introduce the needle later. I take a quick glance at her before going under, she smiles slightly and I press the button that let me see what went through her head.

Her mind is organized, everything is placed on its proper place. Not many architects have this quality, which is a huge relief. The scene if filled with buildings, most of them look like a hybrid between modern and classic post industrial revolution. I take a look around, waiting for her to appear. It doesn't take long before she walks out of the main building on the street. Approaching her I notice her projections haven't noticed me yet. We started to walk in silence to the main stairs, the perfect place to explain the first lesson.

"You gotta have to master a few trick if you want to build three complete levels" I told her while starting to climb the stairs. I bump into a female projection by accident, making her paperwork fall from her arms. She kneels and starts to pick them up "Excuse me" I told her but then I remembered she's just I projection, I roll my eyes… me and my courtesy.

"What kind of tricks?"

Her question brings me back to the purpose of this climbing

"In a dream you can trick architecture into impossible shapes. That lets you create close loops, like the Penrose steps" we keep on climbing until we give a turn and we're once more in front of the same projection, finding it shocking she looks at me for an explanation. "Infinite staircase" I explained myself while reaching the end of the staircase and showing her the beauty of this "See... Paradox"

Letting her enjoy the view and what it represented, then after a couple of seconds I turned around and started to walk down the stairs. It didn't take long before she's on my side, I proceed my lecture.

"So a close loop like that will help you disguise the boundaries of the dream creator"

"How big do these levels have to be?"

"It could be anything… from the floor to an entire city. But they have to be complicated enough so we can hide from the projections"

"Like a maze?"

Pretty, quick learner, funny and smart. What else you have hidden little one?

"Yeah… a maze. The better the maze"

"The longer we have before the projections catch us?"

"Exactly"

This girl doesn't cease to amaze me, now I completely understand why Cobb was instantly hooked by you and why he gave me a clear warning.

"My subconscious seems polite enough" once more she brought me back from my personal thoughts, I chuckle.

"Well… just wait, it'll turn ugly. No one wants to feel someone else messing around in their mind"

"Cobb can't build anymore can he?"

That was unexpected. She got all that with just sharing two dreams with Cobb. I sighed and looked down at her

"Well I don't know if he can't, but he won't. He thinks it's safer if he doesn't know the layouts"

"Why?"

"He won't tell me, but I think it's Mal"

"His ex-wife?"

"No, not his ex"

"They're still together?" she asks me shocked, we both stop walking. I take a deep breath. How to explain this? Might as well cut the chase.

"No. She...she's dead. What you see in there is just his projection"

"What was she like in real life?"

I take a pause just to remember her the real Mal, the one with one of her smiles could calm any spirit.

"She was lovely"

She looks away embarrased and gulps.

"Don't worry, you would probably find out eventually"

"Sorry… I just sometimes meddle too much in other people business"

"Curiosity it's not a crime, Ariadne. Even if from time to time it gets us into trouble" I look down and give her one of my most sincere smiles.

She smiles back, in her eyes I noticed she's a little relieved. Biting her lower lip she looks away then to one side then the other. Clearly avoiding my stare. I find it out but before anything, I notice most of the projections passing by glaring at me. Checking my watch and confirming there's still time before the projections get wilder I start to walk outside the building.

"Come, I need to teach you other tricks to help you develop a more realistic maze"

After teaching her about textures, which she quickly picked up, I started with the point of a maze and the possible emergency exits we might use. Just in case the dream might collapse or some impediments appear on the way. Also I explained the importance of not using real memories, she told me Cobb already explained that. After that she shared what happened in her dream with him, I couldn't help but feel a little angered at Cobb for exposing such a young girl on her second dream to something as horrible as that.

The time ran out and we both awoke quiet normally, which for her was a relief. Considering her first dream she woke up because of an explotion and the second time she was stabbed on the stomach. I saved the cables on the case and locked the machine, I beckon her to follow me. Showing her the spot where she will be working, I explained that her only job was to create mazes that will help the dreamers confuse the subconscious of the mark. Also the importance of the complexity of them, the more detailed the easier for us to confuse the target so we can implant the idea. As I anticipated, the idea of planting an idea on someone's mind picked her curiosity. Just like the white rabbit on Alice. She asked me a lot of questions about it, I answered most of them but since I've never performed nothing but exctration it was quiet difficult for me to saciate her curiosity.

I considered the option to teach her about how to defend herself and shoot a gund, but since she wouldn't be joining us down there I found it pointless. Instead I asked her to start up building mazes in her office so we could practice on them and I could evaluate the progress. Ariadne asked me for material, she apologized for not bringing her utensils with her. I pointed at the place where I stored all the office supplies, not like we have many but some of them might turn useful. I took a mental note to buy her material to model the mazes when I had the chance. To my surprise she only took a package of white paper sheets and a pencil, definitely a pure artist and not some showoff that needed expensive material like those you find in Montmartre these days.

Another hours flew when she came back with a few sketches of possible mazes. I truly impressed that it only took her a couple of hours to develop two possible scenarios. Eager but not showing it on my face, we plugged on the machine. I must admit I wasn't expecting much for her first draft, but the maze turned out to be fully functional, some details that needed some polishing but nothing to be worried about. I wanted to congratulate her but Cobb's warning appeared in my head, instead I nodded and kept looking for the details on the landscape. I pointed out the details missing and some tips to help her out. The time ran out and once back in reality, she asked me if there was something else failing on her draft, I shook my head and with that she left to her desk.

It didn't take long before she returned with the new draft, fixing the minor issues I found in the previous one and with that we repeated the rutine. On the fourth dream we shared I started to notice that it took longer for her subsconcious to pick up I was there, this only happened when the dreamers shared a lot of experiences. Which meant that with every dream we shared, she was opening her mind more to me and therefore her trust was growing. This was flattering but my cold logic told me I have to be careful from now on, the floor I was stepping was getting icy and easily I could fell down. If she got too attached to me, my influence my cloud her judgement and mine along it. Jeopardizing the mission. I pressed my lips and took a mental note to deflect any kind of bonding any time I had the chance.

When we woke up from the 6th shared dream it was already dark outside. Checking my watch I confirmed it was past 8pm, I scratched the back of my neck. One of the side effect of dream sharing is that you start to lose the grasp of time. Pulling out the needle and once it was sterilized I placed it on the case. She hand me her cable and cleaned needle. I smirked mentally, appreciating this tiny gesture. Usually I was the one to clean up everyone's mess, it was a mouthful of fresh air to have someone that cared about this too even if it was just to impress me on her first day. Which she didn't have to, she already did plenty of that without even trying. Packing the cables and closing the case I turned over my shoulder to look down at her.

"We're done for the day"

She nodded and went to her desk and started to pick the few things she brought with her. I went to my desk and put some documents on my portfolio, I needed to check them once I was back on the hotel. Once I was satisfied with the order on top of my desk I took my jacket and pulled out the keys from it. I pulled out my cellphone and read on the screen one missed call, it didn't say the number but since only one person has this number I didn't need to indagate further. Putting my jacket on I head to the main door, to my surprise she was waiting on the frame. At last... someone with manners in this office. I approached her, hiding my smile. She moved so I could lock the door and once we were out, she said good night and walked to the opposite direction where I was heading.

I made my way to the corner and hailing a cab I made my way back to the hotel I was currently staying. Once I was on my room, I took my cell out and dialed Cobb's number which I memorized, security measures. Keeping any type of information on devices that could be easily stolen was a major no in this business. Since we're not strictly legal, we must be careful about all the information we held. It only took rings before he picks up.

"She came back"

"Did you get to do any progress today?"

"We did. She is quite impressive"

"You do remember what I said before I left, don't you?"

"Yes, I do. My compliment was about her performance and nothing more"

"By your tone it gave me a different impression"

"Well it's not. So, did you find him?" I responded him a little harsh, hoping he will get the hint so he would kindly stop pestering me.

"Not just him"

"What do you mean?" I raised an eyebrow and sat on a chair next to the balcony of the room.

"Our employer was there"

I sighed and rubbed my temples in exasperation. "Let me guess… he's making sure we're doing our job"

"He wants to get involved, already tried to persuade him out of it but it didn't work. So he's here with me, and two more"

I scratch the back of my neck and sigh "And I assume the other one is a pal of our british friend?"

He doesn't give me an aswer, but I am positive that a tiny smile appeared on Cobb's face. I rubbed my temples once more, feeling it tenser than before. Somehow I am starting to believe that he finds pleasing torturing me, first Eames, then Saito gets involved and now another person which I knew nothing but that he was associated with Eames. And in my personal experience anything associated with him meant nothing but trouble. Somehow I suspect this will backfire on us somehow.

Cobb's voice brings me back from my frustration bubble "We'll be arriving the day after tomorrow in the morning, no need to pick us. Just focus on her training and nothing else"

Click. I rolled my eyes and scratch the back of my head. That's exactly what I was doing, but somehow Cobb wants to implant these words on my subsconcious. The only side effect of that is that my projections might turn against her quicker if he keeps pushing the idea in. Nothing is happening, I am just being polite and making this experience as comfortable as possible. It's not easy have a young girl on the team with no experience on the field whatsoever. I was raised that way and if you want to complain with someone about my manners, go straight to the source. I rolled my eyes and pushed this subject to the back of my head. At the moment I am tired and not in the mood to deal with protective parent nonsense Cobb is developing.


	3. Chapter 3

The following morning to my surprise she's was already waiting by the door, with her school bag around her and a coffee on her right hand. I wasn't expecting her until midday, due to her courses at the college, still I was pleased I could work with her longer.

"Morning"

"Morning" she responded with a smile.

I pulled out the keys and open the warehouse, letting her pass first. She goes straight to her desk, placing her coffee on it she looks for something on her bag. It doesn't take long before she pulls out some papers, like a magician pulling a white rabbit fromo his hat. Once the papers are on her right hand, she turns and goes straight to me.

"I was working on some mazes for the second level, could you check them?"

I blink in surprise and take them. I start to check them one by one, still puzzled she had the time to come up with all this during the night. Didn't she sleep or hang out with friends? Apparently I'm not the only workholic here. The sketches are remarkable but I don't say anything, instead I look up and give her an approving nod. "Let's find out"

Understanding what I meant by that, she walks back to the corner where the machine is. She sits on the lawn chair and waits patiently for me to open the Pandora Box. I chuckle at my own personal joke in my head, placing my briefcase on top of my desk I fix my tie before joining her. Putting the password the silver case, it opens gently and while pulling the cables I notice her eagerness to go under. ]She almost jump of her chair when I offered her a needle attached to a cable. It's always like this for the novice, specially the architects. Once they realize the major potential in the machine and how it enables them to become gods, it's quiet difficult to live without it. I just hope she doesn't loses her mind to this, even the smartest had lost it.

She clears her throat, I was so inmerse on my thoughts that I didn't realize I stopped moving. She looks up from her place, concern on her eyes. I shake my head and pull out the cable towards me, sitting on the other chair. Once I'm sterelized and punctured I press the button. And just like yesterday I start to evaluate the potential on the second level. She managed to creat a complete business center, really similar to the one they have on Montreal. She must had gotten inspired by her hometown. I nod pleased about it, some details are off but nothing alarming. I look her in the eye and give her a tiny smile as a sign of approval, I don't want her discouraged. Besides a smile had never harmed anyone. I check my watch and with a last glance at the building we go back to the warehouse.

Pulling out the needle and cleaning it, I stand up and start to save the cables. "What you did on the business center is impressive, but the problem with a building like that is the ammount of projections. It will turn into our disadvantage. We need a place were isn't that crowed"

She frowns a little and looks down, biting her right thumb. Obviously concentrating, it didn't take long before she looks up cheered up "How about a hotel? Usually they're not that crowed, we could be hiding on the restaurant or the lobby"

"Sounds good to me. We'll work on it once you're done with the draft"

Ariadne nods at head back to her desk. It's a shame we have to waste that scenario, but it's my job to make everyone's job easier even if that means she has to work extra. Maybe we can save that scenario for another job, if there is such a thing and she's still here. Shaking these thoughts off my head I walk back to my desk and continue verifying the profile of the Fisher family, glancing from time to time to her place. She's fully concentrated on the sketch, her ears covered by headphones, both of her feet on top of the desk and the sketchbook on her lap. I scratch my neck before going back to my lecture. Focus Arthur.

After an hour she shows me what she's been working, promising as always. I notice some details on the landscape so I take a piece of paper and write down the names of the hotels Fisher Jr stays when he travels, just to be safe he doesn't find out the farce.

"These are some of the hotels our mark usually stays when he travels" I told her while handing the note to her.

"Mmm.. well I can combine some details of these and make a new one" she responds while checking the names of the note.

"My thoughts exactly"

She nods and turns around, still reading the tiny piece of paper. It didn't take long before she's back with some new designs.

"That was fast" I confessed with both eyebrows raised

She chuckles and hands them to me. I check them, by the corner of my eye I notice she bites her lip and fiddles with her scarf. Waiting for my veredict. It didn't take long before I look up and smile. "I am impressed"

Her eyes spark with exciment, apparently it was a big deal for her me approving this. Something in the back of my head starts to shout but I silence it inmeditaly. She truly deserved that compliment and it's not like Cobb would find out anyway. Standing up and taking the scraps with me, we head to the dream machine. I open it and hand her a cable "Lets find out how these work"

After the normal procedure and some corrections I find myself pleased, which is usually difficult. This time however I don't share my thoughts, instead I unplug myself from the machine and head back to my desk. She goes back to her spot and starts to check on the sketches again, perhaps looking for some mistakes that I might had overlook. I chuckle in my head, like if that is even my hand over my hair I took a pen from my desk, sitting on my chair I started to write some other notes when I noticed her approaching my office I frown and look up at her, she wasn't carrying any papers. Instead she has her wallet on her hand, she looks down and smiles.

"Don't you ever eat?"

I blink in surprise and frown. Immediatly I check my watch and noticed that it's past midday. Clearly lunch time. I scratch my neck and look up at her.

"I do, but sometimes I forget track of time" giving her a shy smile.

"Is that a side effect of the dream machine?" she asks worried

I shake my head and pronounce my smile.

"No, it's a side effect of my job"

"Ah, good to know. I wouldn't like my head messed up"

"Neither do I"

A light shade of pink appears in her cheeks, a spark glistens on her eyes. Oh damn… I didn't even realize what I said until I hear it, crap. I panic a little and avoid her gaze, excusing myself with my notes. She keeps staring me, her eyes piercing my skull. What does she want? Another compliment? No, definately I will not be mauled by Mal, so please go away. Why doesn't she leave? I take the courage to face her, the first thing I see is her hands with the wallet on them. Oh right… the food thing. I clear my throat and look up.

"So food? Well... usually we call delivery. There's a couple of menus by the phone and also the yellow pages. No need for you to pay, I'll deal with it. Just make sure that whatever you order don't make it Thai"

"What's wrong with Thai?"

"Nothing, we just don't get along"

"Why?" she asks crossing her over her chest and cocks an eyebrow

"I find highly inapropiate to talk about that. Please just order" I looked away feeling a little embarrased.

She chuckles and turns around, going to the phone's direction. Why would anyone in their right mind would want to know why someone can't eat certain type of food? couldn't they just accept the first response? No, they always have to pursue further. Hoping one will embarrs himself by explaining in detail what his body goes through after eating such thing. I sighed and glance her, she picked up some menus and was reading them. After a coupl of seconds she takes one and dials the number printed on it. It didn't take long before she starts to speak, to my delight in a fluent French. Amusing... how she has such control on a foreign language, considering she's not from France, her features gives her away. Like I didn't know that already, I am in charge of all the type of information needed on this business and that included the staff.

She is Canadian and 23, just like Cobb suspected. Her family had only three members, her parents and her. Normal childhood and teenage years, she moved here to study college after getting a full scholarship. She only had been here for two years and already mastered the language. I find fascinating how fluently she speaks it, not even a slight shade of her accent. Most of Parisians instantly notice when someone is foreign, but it's not the case here. If I was the other person on the line I would be easily fooled.

I find it silly people considered french as the most romantic language. In my personal opinion, I find that a total nonsense. It is not easy to learn, even less to speak it properly, not many countries speak it, so what is the point? I must sound like a typical american tourist, complaining about nonsense like why doesn't everybody speaks english and where is the nearest McDonald's. I roll my eyes and keep glancing at her from the corner of my eye. Even if I think poorly of french the way she talks and how she curls her fingers on the phon'es cords it's making me reconsider my position. Even if she's only ordering food. Still is not enough to stop my mind from wondering what she would sound like speaking about some other matters... matter usually discussed in a closed room under a blanket.

The sound of she hunging up wakes me up as she approaches me with a sly smile printed on her lips. I raised and eyebrow and lay back on my chair, hoping she didn't catch me looking at her.

"Don't worry, I didn't ask for Thai. I asked his cousin for some egg rolls, rice and chop suey. Is that ok for you?"

I nod and smile "Chinese sounds good"

She keeps on smiling and turns around to walk back to her desk when she stops in her tracks and returns looking a tad worried. "What about drinks?"

I resist the impulse to roll my eyes. Really? That is her concern? Indeed she's still a child. I stand up and walk to the corner where a mini fridge is, opening it and checking the content. Thankfully Cobb wasn't much into pop or beer for that matter, he only drank water and the ocasional wine. So all the sodas and refreshment I bought last week are still here.

"We're covered for now" I tell her once I'm back at my chair.

"Good, well I should probably go back and finish those samples" She turns around and heads back to her desk, I scratch my neck while I take a look at her before going back to work. I am starting to think I'm developing a tic.

After a couple of minutes the buzz rang, I offer myself to go and check who it was. I knew that the only possible person on the other side might be the teenager that delivers, but I don't like taking chances. I took a peek on the hole of the main entrance's door and verifying that was in fact just the teenager from the chinese restaurant. I open the door, take the food and tip generously the teenager. I close the door and make sure the boy leaves, after I secure the area I go back to the main floor. Once inside I notice that she had cleaned up a spare desk and put together two chairs. I give her half a smile, walking right to the improvised table and put the food on top of it. She walks to the fridge and comes back with two sodas, one in each hand. I thank her before splitting up the food. We look at each other for a fraction of secon an in a silent agreement we start to eat, sharing from time to time a glance and a polite smile. After ten minutes she stares at me, noticing her eyes I look up with a raised eyebrow. She doesn't say anything, instead she continues eating and now she's smirking. I frown and place my fork down on the table.

"What's so funny?"

She takes a sip from her soda and puts her fork down too "Nothing, it's just too polite the way you eat"

I blink in surprise, too polite? What does she meant by that? She pronounces the smirk and keeps staring at me.

"Yeah you give the impression you know the proper use of all the forks, spoons, knives in a fancy dinner"

As a matter of fact I do, but at the moment I'm just using one. So I don't see how she can tell that but just watching me eat Chinese with a plastic fork. I keep staring at her confused.

"Let me ask you something Arthur. Do you eat hot dogs with utensils or with your hand?"

I frown and take a sip from her soda, I am not answering that question. But my silence pretty much does that for me. She only chuckles and mutters unbelievable.

"I don't like hot dogs" trying to save the statement and somehow my dignity.

"That wasn't my question, but it doesn't matter. Somehow I suspected you were that type of guy"

"What type of guy?" I raised my eyebrow, curiosity winning over me. She takes another bite from her eggroll, she seems to be enjoying prolonging whatever this was. After a couple of painfully slow seconds she gulps and looks up.

"Nothing, just thinking out loud"

Wait- what? No she wouldn't dare... Yes she did! She's now eating like nothing happened. What a nasty trick she picked up on me. Unbelievable… I feel deceived. A pinch of anger raises inside, I'm the point man I should always knows everything and here I was, played by a girl 6 years younger than me. And I thought Eames was the only childish here. I calmed down and continue eating like nothing happened, putting my best mask of seriousness. It doesn't take long before she stands up and starts to help me pick up the trash, taking her soda she drinks the last sip before tossing it to the plastic bag with the garbage. She thanks me for the food and retrieves back to her desk. I watch her go and I rolled my eyes… just incredible.

As I clean my spot and placing everything on the dumpster on the corner, I go back to my desk and resume my duties. Verifying the information that Cobb just send me by e-mail, trying to keep my mind busy. Time again passes by so quickly, thankfully today I just did some major advance on the case of Fisher and the issues their company has. Some of this information will greatly help Cobb and Eames do their jobs. Another set of hours and she approaches me, asking me some questions about the other two levels, I tell her the only information Cobb shared with me. She nods and goes back to her desk. Just a professional questions, I shake my head and keep on working. I don't have time to break my head on tryiing to figurate out what's on her head, even if that is part of my job. I scratch my neck and stop once I realize what was I doing. I will have to break that before it turns into habbit.

After finding some articles about the Fisher family that look promising, I hear some sounds from Ariadne's desk. I look up and notice that she's fixing some of her stuff, I frown and look up and notice through the windows that is already dark outside. I check my watch and it's past 11. My eyes open wider due to the shock. How did that happened? Also I find it odd that she didn't do or say anything about it. It is 11 on a Friday night and she's still here? She didn't say anything because I was concentrated on my work that she didn't want to interrupt me or did she also lost track of time. I look at her once more and she's stretching on her chair like a cat. I don't pay much attention to this, instead I keep on reading on the articles.

"I'm starving" she yells from her place, surely trying to catch my attention. I notice from the corner of my eye that she's up and walking towards me, fixing her scarf. I keep on reading or pretending to do so, she stops in front of my desk "It's late want to join me for a bite? I know this succulent bistro that is open all night"

Finally I look up and fix upon hers, she's smiling like usual. I start to take notice on the details of her face when the image of Cobb came to ruin my moood. I could even picture him coming through the door with a Colt on his right hand, pointing at my head and looking me with his piercing blue eyes 'I told you not to' and then pulling the trigger. Now that I think about it, that doesn't sound like him. He would probably shake his head in disapproval; take me under a level into his subconscious. Then he would say he didn't want to do this but I left him no choice and then push me to a closed room with Mal in it. I shivered just thinking about the unspeakable things Mal would love to do with me, that I didn't even realize Ariadne was in front of me waving her hand

"Hello, earth to Arthur. Is somebody there or you just decided to check out limbo by yourself?"

I blinked and then shook my head "Sorry, I was just thinking about some details for the mission"

She smiled and nodded then she looked at her right then to her left and finally me again.

"So... are you coming or not?"

Tough question, should I say yes and enjoy a couple of hours with the tomboy yet cute architect and be beaten to a pulp in Cobb's mind by Mal or say no and save my ass and my job for at least another day. I gulped and looked back at my desk.

"Sorry I have a lot of work to do, maybe some other time"

Well to be honest I do have a lot of work but nothing I couldn't finish tomorrow. But I didn't reject her because of Cobb, I did it also because getting involved with a coworker only lead to pain. True with Cobb and Mal had worked wonders in the beginning, but at the end when they started to share dreams for pleasure it was the moment their relationship was doomed to crash and burn. Also it didn't help that finding a competent architect was even harder than forging a philosopher's stone.

After a couple of seconds I dared to look up to see if she was ok, she looked ok but for a fraction of a second her eyes looked disapointed. Confused I frowned, she shook her head and smiled afterwards "Ok then, see you tomorrow"

And before I could say or do anything she spun around and walked to the main entrance, opened the door and closed behind her, disappearing into darkness. I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples, this was getting unnecessarily complicated. My only hope was when the rest of the team arrived tomorrow I could go back to be the Point Man. A man focused in his job and nothing else, particularly something that had auburn hair.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning I arrived at the same time, like always. She wasn't on the door waiting for me. Somehow I suspected that but I still hoped different. I made myself comfortable, checking the last strands of the Fisher job before I heard noises outside the warehouse. I resisted the impulse to jump off my chair and run to the door, instead I fixed the knot on my tie and walked to it. Before opening I looked myself on the mirror near the entrance, not a single detail was off. I took a deep breath and reached the door knob with my right hand. My body froze and I pulled it away, what should I do or say? Would she be mad? Or was I overthinking this too much? I scratched the back of my neck and rolled my eyes afterwards. This is ridiculous, I am a grown man, a professional extractor, so enough with the nonsense. Closing my eyes I tried to keep it calm, picturing an empty room with white walls, when I was getting finally back to my usual self a loud knock shattered my concentration. I frowned and checked on the hole on the door. I notice a grey eye on the other side blinking at me then a broad grin replacing it, I rolled my eyes and opened the door.

"That was highly unnecessary, Eames" giving him a dark glare.

"Arthur, so nice of you to open the bloody door at last" he said grinning "So are you going to let us in or should we ask for permission?"

I roll my eyes as I open the door completely, he just walks right pass me still grinning. Once he's indoors I see the rest of the team gathering to get in the building. Cobb looks at me in the eye before climbing up the stairs, Saito gives me a slight nod and follows Cobb, then a dark skinned man greets me. He introduces himself as Yusuf, ringing a bell in my head I recognize him as one of the few suppliers of customized chemicals in the world, I give a nod and let him in.

Expecting Ariadne to enter last but when no one followed, I frowned and took a look outside. I checked both sides of the street, I was about to close the door when I spotted on the corner a petite figure running towards me. I frowned at first but once I spotted an auburn mane waving widely I smiled. She reaches the door and places her hands on her knees, gasping for air. I give her a couple of seconds to recover. She looks up and smiles apologetically, I nod and let her pass before closing the door behind us. Ariadne keeps taking huge amounts of air and after another couple of seconds she clears her throat and looks at me.

"Sorry, I overslept. Won't happen again" she looks at me then I notice her eyes diverting over my shoulder, her eyes widens and yelps.

I look over my shoulder and I spot the mirror behind me. She starts to fix her hair with her fingers and straightens her clothes. I suppress the impulse to chuckle at her childish behavior. Once she's done with her hair she pulls out a lipstick from her handbag and gives a few touches to her lips, she looks at her image for the last time before she turns to me and smiles. I half smile and let her pass first, glad that everything is normal and in control.

As she climbs the stairs I lock the main door and secure the area. Once up I notice Ariadne standing on the wall next to the door of the main floor, I give her a confused look. She looks at me a little puzzled and gives two steps towards me.

"Who are the people with Cobb?" pointing with her right thumb to the room.

I frown, not completely understanding what she meant by that. Suddenly realization hits me on the face. Of course, I didn't tell her the rest of the team will be gathered here today. I kick myself mentally and scratch the back of my neck.

"The rest of the team" I tell her while glancing at the open door.

She bites her lower lip and looks at the floor for a second then back at me and gives me a slight nod.

"Come, they're waiting" I tell her over my shoulder and heading to the door.

Following me she stays on my right. As we enter all their gazes turn upon us, silence falls on the room. Cobb is the first to move, walking towards us and going straight to Ariadne.

"How are you holding up?" he asks piercing her with his gaze.

"Ok, I guess" she responds while pushing a lock of hair to the back of her ear.

Cobb nods and doesn't comment on her insecure tic. Instead he looks at me, both of his hands on his pockets.

"Everything's ready?"

I simply nod in response. He looks for doubt in my eyes, finding none he turns around and walks to the center of the warehouse.

"Everyone this is Ariadne, the new architect"

She walks a couple of steps and greets them with a light wave of her hand and her trademark smile. Yusuf is the first to approach her, he introduces himself as the chemist, which she clearly doesn't understand what that means. He explains his role on the job, curiosity picking up quickly she starts to ask more questions about it which gladly he responded. As for our employer he doesn't move, instead he observes her. I notice how his eyes examine her figure from head to toe, frowning he gives me a quick glance before proceeding with his inspection. In his eyes I read clearly his dissatisfaction with the new member. I am not surprised at all, in fact I was expecting him to judge her by her age. So finding it pointless to explain our client the reasons why we hired her I chose, in the lack of a better word, let her charm them into her talent.

As for Eames, he was already marking territory by strutting along with a huge smirk printed on his lips. Again something I already predicted it would happen, still this doesn't stop my jaw to tense and my eyes fall upon him, watching him and analyzing every move he did.

"My, my, my… this is such a major improvement to that prat Nash, Cobb" he chanted while giving Cobb a glance then looking back at her "So Ariadne… anything to do with the minotaur tale?"

"You mean Theseus myth?" she corrected him "Yeah, my father's idea"

"Lovely, tell your old man that he has such a good taste in naming pretty things" smirking he took her hand and gave it a quick kiss.

I felt how my stomach gave a little, I gave him a dark glare, which he clearly noticed but decided to ignore. Before I looked at Cobb accusingly, he read my mind and walked to the couple, putting his right hand over Eames' shoulder.

"Ok, that's enough" glaring him, immediately Eames backs off and lets Cobb and Ariadne pass to where Saito was.

"This is Mr. Saito. He's the one requiring our services"

"Pleased to meet you" she says extending her hand to him

Saito looks at her hand for a second and then takes it and shakes it. "Likewise" releasing it and looking back at Cobb. "Now Miss. Ariadne if you don't mind I would like to have a word with Cobb in private"

Ariadne nods and walks away from them. Cobb and Saito stroll to a corner, speaking in hushed tones. Reading his lips I checked that in fact Saito was expressing his concern about Ariadne's age, Cobb merely response was that he had to trust him on this and take a leap of faith. Saito grinned at the use of his own words against him and gave a slight nod. Walking back to the center of the warehouse, Cobb pulled a chair and beckoned everyone to gather around.

He started to explain the mission and the tasks for each of us. He didn't go into much detail because we needed to have the specifics before proceeding. Cobb explained that Eames would be the one in charge to get the actual facts from Robert's relationship with his father, since most of the information out there was influenced by the mass media. So that meant Eames will be parting to Sydney and retrieve the information. Cobb asked him how long would he take to do it, smugly Eames responded that he needed only one week. That meant seven days more of peace.

Cobb asked for the information I gathered on Fisher, which I quickly handed. After reading it he passed over to Eames. Verifying some of the information that Saito already passed him, Eames and Cobb got into details about his flight. Once that was off the table Cobb explained that in the mean time I would keep on working with Ariadne and train her. Saito excused that he had to leave to Japan but he'll be coming back in a week to check the progress, but before he left he wanted to check the abilities of our new architect. I stood up and fixed the machine, pulling three needles and handing to each of them. I put on the timer for 5 minutes and once they were seated I started the machine. I gave them a last glance before heading back to my desk.

I was busy writing down some notes, while Yusuf and Eames were discussing a certain type of sedatives, when the sound of the timer going off brought our attention. Cobb was already pulling out his needle when he met my gaze, he gave me a slight nod and looked over to Saito. He sat up straight and pulled off the needle. Placing the cable back on the suitcase he stood up and fixed his suit from any wrinkles. He told Cobb he would be returning to Paris within a week and after giving Cobb an Ariadne and approving nod he walked to the exit. Saito was already by the door when Eames intercepted him, he asked some last details about Robert before shamelessly asking for a lift to the airport. I rolled my eyes and resisted the impulse to call him leech. Saito merely nod and both of them walked out of the building.

After that Cobb told Ariadne until Eames returned there was no point in keeping her there until we know the specifics for the designs of the levels. He also explained that this job would be taking all her time for the next couple of weeks, adding that there was no need for her to ask permission in her school, he already spoke to Miles about it and she was free to work with us. Cobb suggested in the mean time tie down the loosed ends. Ariadne nodded and picked up her stuff before waving goodbye to everyone and leaving the building.

Once that was settled Cobb proceed to speak to Yusuf and show him where he will be working. Cobb asked me to facilitate Yusuf's supplies and help him assemble a lab. He asked me to follow him, clearly he wanted to talk in private about what happened during the trip to Mombasa. After sharing all the information he gathered from Saito and his encounter with Cobol, he excused saying he had some errands to run. I nodded and returned to the warehouse. Yusuf had already assembled a list of the materials he would need, after reviewing my notes and checking we needed materials for the models I decided to take the afternoon to shop.

With Yusuf working on some samples, Cobb going in and out at will and Eames sending me his progress along with some distasteful links, the week passed quickly. So it was a pleasant surprise to find Ariadne standing by the door with her bag around her shoulders and a cup of coffee on her right hand. She greeted me while I unlock the door and let her pass first. As we started to assemble our things Cobb arrived, he greeted Ariadne and went to his desk. It didn't take long before Yusuf came after and greeted us. Ariadne approached me and asked me what she was going to do, when I was about to answer when Saito walked in followed by Eames.

"Honey… I'm home!" Eames exclaimed, walking towards us smirking.

Eames greeted Ariadne by kissing her on each cheek. I looked at him giving him a clear warning, he chuckled and shook his head.

"Darling don't give me that look, if you want a kiss so badly you could just ask"

He made the intent to approach me, when I just kept on glaring he chuckled a little louder and walked to where Cobb was. After he handed some files to him, Cobb called the rest of us to join them near some whiteboards so we could start the meeting. Eames started to place some pictures he gathered from his trip on them, handing over some folders with copies on his research to each of us. He waited until we opened the files and read some notes he highlighted.

"So, as you can see nothing that we haven't seen before. The same old thing that happens every time the head of a rich family falls. The vultures are circling. The sicker Maurice Fischer becomes, the more powerful Peter Browning becomes. I've had ample opportunity to observe Browning. Adopt his physical presence, study his mannerisms and so on and so forth. Now in the first layer of the dream I can impersonate Browning and suggest concept to Fischer's conscious mind, then when we take him a level deeper his own projection of Browing should...should feed that right back to him.  
><strong>"<strong>So he gives himself the idea" I tell him, admiring the beauty of this simplicity.  
><strong>"<strong>Precisely. It's the only way it will stick. It has to seem self generated" he responds looking at everyone, before turning back to me.  
><strong>"<strong>Eames… I am impressed" I admit while laying back on my chair  
><strong>"<strong>Your condescension, as always, is much appreciated Arthur. Thank you" he says smiling smugly. I find myself regretting almost immediately feeding his ego a little more.

"Well that's a start" Cobb says while standing up and folding his sleeves "We now have the first level of the dream. Ariadne I need you to build up an entire city so we can blend in it and Fisher's subconscious doesn't trigger his projections against us"

"Any particular request?" she asks while playing with a pencil on her right hand.

"Just anything that he is familiar with but not that much. Arthur, help her with that" he says looking at me.

Giving him a nod I beckon Ariadne to follow me, as we part to where my desk is. I start to check up on the files I have on top on them, from the corner of my eye I notice her snooping at the things I have on my desk. Is not like there's anything that represents who I am in my desk, actually it's only filled with files and photographs from the case, but apparently she can't help to be inquisitive and keeps looking anyway. Finding the file I look up and hand it over to her.

"This is a list of all the cities he travels on his business trips, again I suggest you take details of each and blend them into one"

"Thank you" she takes it and starts to read it

"Also I bought some supplies, they're on your desk"

She looks to her desk, noticing all the plastic bags on top of it, she turns at me and gives me her trademark smile. Before leaving she thanks me and goes back to her desk. I see how her eyes widens and her smile pronounces even more as she pulls out a new article from the bags, she looks just like a child on its birthday opening presents. I smile satisfied by my work and return where the rest of the team was.

The meeting goes smoothly as Eames shares in more details the things he learnt from his trip. As time passes by, Ariadne approaches us with some drafts on her hand. She was about to show them to me when Cobb stops her from doing so, he looks at her before looking at the floor thinking. After a couple of seconds he looks up.

"You should only show the details of the maze to the dreamer and no one else"

"So whom am I showing these?" she says while raising the papers on her hand

Cobb looks at the ceiling concentrating while playing with his watch, it doesn't take long before he looks at each of us.

"The first level will be Yusuf's dream" he stares at Yusuf as he nod in agreement "Also show it once is done and modeled"

Ariadne nods and walks back to her desk. I watch her from the corner of my eye and once she is back to her chair I look back at Eames.

The rest of the day goes like any other day, everyone is back to their desks working on the tasks assigned by Cobb. I keep on reading the information brought by Eames, complimented with some information Saito found out by his own methods. It doesn't take long before I look up from my computer and find the windows tainted black. Most of the team is already gone, I haven't even noticed when they left. The only people remaining are Cobb, Ariadne and myself. I check Cobb is under, not liking it I decide to talk to him tomorrow about it.

I spot Ariadne stretching her arms and her back, she notices my stare and spins her chair to face me, giving me her classical smile. I stand up and take my jacket from my chair. Approaching her I place my hands on my pockets and stop right in front of her.

"So how is the city coming along?" I say breaking the silence, trying to sound as professional as always.

"Honestly, it's a pain in the ass" she chuckles and looks away embarrassed "I have so many details and I haven't even gone under to build them"

"They'll come around, trust me. You just need to keep inspired"

She nods and sighs. An awkward silence falls between us, she bites her cheek but keeps looking at me straight in the eye. She pulls a lock of hair to the back of her ear and stares at the floor, breaking the eye contact. I search for my die on my right pocket and fidget with it a little, then my mind starts working again.

"So you worked on your totem yet?"

"No, but I brought this" she says while pulling out a golden bishop "I was thinking of doing some holes under and change the balance of it"

"We have some workshop tools on the back, you can use them as you please"

She nods and holds the bishop to her chest, finding this particularly odd I raise one eyebrow. "Is there anything special about that particular piece of chess? Aside the fact that it will be your anchor to reality" not caring about voicing out my curiosity.

Taking the bishop and looking at it dearly she looks back at me before making a fist around it "It's from a chess game I won back when I was a kid"

That explains her natural talent for mazes and strategies. I give her a nod while I pull out my dice and show it to her.

"This is from the first time I went to Vegas"

She looks at me stunned, like she doesn't picture me in a place like that. Not surprising, most of the people don't know more about me than I let them know. But since she shared something about her personal life I felt I should had done the same. She keeps on staring at the piece and me like she's not believing a word I said. I give her half a smile before pulling the dice to my face and check the still visible golden letters of the casino printed on it.

"So you won a lot of money?"

I sighed and put the dice back into my pocket.

"No, actually I lost a lot that night. I keep it as a reminder that there is not such thing as luck, that behind all that thrill of betting and leaving all to fate there's will be always a reality. Waiting for you to snatch back to where you belong"

She looks at me little disillusioned; perhaps she was waiting for a fantastic tale of winning millions in one night. After all she is just a child, with innocence flowing on her veins. The sound of a chair moving on the corner brings me back to reality, I glance over my shoulder and notice Cobb waking up from his dream, I look back at Ariadne.

"I must go, work on your totem. The more you share dreams, the more you'll be needing it"

She nods and as I start to walk to the door I hear her call my name, I turn over my shoulder. She gives me a wide smile and wishes me a good night. She turns back to her desk before she can see a wide smile appear on my lips as I respond in a whisper "you too".


	5. Chapter 5

I arrived the next day and found no one in the warehouse. I checked around and noticed that on top of Ariadne's desk there was already a model for one of the levels, surrounded by some sketches. It seemed that she stayed late and worked harder on the following levels. As I placed my portfolio over my desk and pulled out my notepad from my suit's pocket, reviewing some notes I came up last night until I heard footsteps. Looking up I heard Cobb's voice along with Ariadne's, they were discussing some details about her progress on the first level. Once they're on the main floor Ariadne's gave me a small smile before going to Cobb's desk and keep on discussing. It doesn't take long before we are joined by Yusuf and Saito, at after half hour Eames appears rubbing his eyes and yawning openly. Rude, as usual.

Cobb walked to the corner where we have our meetings, he took one black marker and wrote down a phrase in one of the boards. As everybody takes their seats and pulls out their folders to their laps, Cobb turns back at us and takes a seat on the chair right next to the whiteboard.

"I will split up my father's empire" reading the phrase he points at it with his left hand "Now this is obviously an idea that Robert himself will choose to reject" he brushes his nose as he bends over and takes his folder with his right hand "Which is why we need to plant it deep in his subconscious" turning the pages until he puts back the folder on a table close to him. "Subconscious is motivated by emotion, right. Not reason. We need to find a way to translate this into an emotional concept" He says standing up and making emphasis with hand gestures.

"How do you translate a business strategy into an emotion?" I ask him looking up from my notes.

"That's what we're here to figure out right. Now Robert's relationship with his father is stressed to say the least" he responds while folding his sleeves up and gazing at his folder.

"Well, can we run with that" Eames interrupts while closing his folder and looking up at Cobb "We could suggest to him breaking up his father's company as a 'screw-you' to the old man"

"No, 'cause I think positive emotion trumps negative emotion every time" Cobb responds tapping the desk and playing with his sleeves "We all yearn for reconciliation, for catharsis. We need Robert Fischer to have a positive emotional reaction to all this"

"Okay, well try this...um...'My father accepts that I want to create for myself, not follow in his footsteps.'" Eames responds while moving on his chair from once side to another, playing with his poker chip.

"That might work" Cobb responds while taking his cup of coffee and sipping from it.

"Might? We're going to need to do a little better than might" I said quite serious and looking at Cobb straight in the eye

"Thank you for your contribution, Arthur" Eames reproaches looking at me a little annoyed by my remark.

"Forgive me for wanting a little specificity" I giving him a knowing glare, it's my job to make sure there's no lose ends. I notice he's looking at me dumbfounded, I frowned "Specificity?" I repeat myself, hoping his brain makes a connection. Cleary it didn't.

"Inception is not about being specific" Cobb interrupts our little duel, staring at his folder while turning the pages "When we get inside his mind we're going to have to work with what we find. Ariadne did you finish the first level?"

"Yeah, already modeled"

Cobb gives her an approving nod "Ok, show it to Yusuf and then both go under and work on it"

They stood up and walked to Ariadne's desk. The rest of us continued discussing how to develop the catharsis, as Eames and Cobb keep commenting back and forward some possible scenarios for the three levels. After a couple of minutes I notice Yusuf and Ariadne are under, evidently she was teaching him the maze. The meeting continued until the sound of the timer going off caught our attention. Walking side by side, Ariadne and Yusuf joined the rest of the team. Cobb glanced at Yusuf, he only gave him a small smile. Playing with his watch Cobb orders us to gather around the PASIV so we can get familiar with the level. I distribute all the cables and needles, after everyone is already on their chairs I set the timer and press the button.

I appear in the middle of a street, similar to the ones on L.A. Before I spot anyone I take my time to gaze around and examine each detail of the level, I am delighted that it has so much detail and yet it is so simple. The buildings are still moving, clearly adapting to the scenario Ariadne envisioned. It didn't take long before I am joined by Ariadne, who appeared inside a coffee shop on the corner. I was about to compliment her on her magnificent work on this level when Saito and Cobb came out from an electronics' store on the opposite corner. Yusuf joins us afterwards and finally Eames appears from a convenience store. As we gather in the center of the intersection of the streets, Eames clears his throat and speaks.

"You live up to your reputation sweetie" looking at Ariadne, she blushed a little and nodded in gratitude "So on the top level we open up his relationship with his father. Say 'I will not follow in my father's footsteps'. Then the next level down feed him, 'I will create something for myself.' Then by the time we hit the bottom level we bring out the big guns"

"My father doesn't want me to be him." Cobb ends the sentence.

"Exactly. So shall we go back and let the petite work on the next level?" winking shamelessly at Ariadne. She only rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless.

Cobb nods, giving a last look to the landscape. Once we're back to reality, everyone except for Saito takes out their totems and check on them, Cobb more times than needed. I start to pack the cables and clean the needles. As expecte Ariadne is the only one that is cleaned. We all head back to the center of the warehouse, I pull out my notes and take off my jacket, placing it on the back of my chair.

"So there's going to be three levels to reach a powerful catharsis" Cobb explains drawing a diagram on the whiteboard.

"Three layers down, dreams are going to collapse at the slightest disturbance" I point out looking at Yusuf, waiting for an explanation.

"Sedation" he responds smiling "For sleep, stable enough to create three layers of dreaming. I will have to combine with an extremely powerful sedative. The compound we'll be using to share the dream creates a very clear connection between dreamers whilst actually accelerating brain function"

"In other words, it gives us more time on each level" Cobb explains a little further

"Brain function in the dream will be about 20 times of normal" looking at Cobb, Yusuf nods and proceeds "When you enter a dream within that dream, the effect is compounded. Three dreams is ten hours, is-"

"I'm sorry" Eames interrupts "math was never my strong subject. So how much time is that?"

Really? How thick he can be? One thing is to appear stupid and another admitting it. I roll my eyes and keep on writing some notes.

Cobb sighs and crosses his arms over his chest "It's a week the first level down, six months the second level down, third level is…"

"It's ten years" Ariadne interrupts him, looking at him confused Cobb avoids her gaze. She frowns and looks at Yusuf instead "Who'd want to be stuck in a dream for ten years?"

"Depends on the dream" Yusuf responds her smirking.

"So once we've made the plant, how do we get out? I'm hoping you have something more elegant in mind that shooting me in the head" I ask Cobb while playing with my pen and balancing my weight on the two back legs of the chair.

"A kick" he says

"What's a Kick?" Ariadne asks confused, shaking her head a little.

"This Ariadne would be a kick" Eames responds, I was too busy writing down some notes when the bastard kicked my chair, causing me jolt back down. Glaring at him, he gives me a mischievous smile. I roll my eyes and ignore him.

"It's that feeling of falling you get that jolts you awake" Cobb explains snapping his fingers "It snaps you out of a dream"

"Are we going to feel the kick with this kind of sedation?" I ask placing my forearms on my thighs and bending over.

"Ah, that's the clever part. I customized the sedative to leave the inner ear function unimpaired" Yusuf explains while pointing his right ear "That way however deep the sleep, the sleeper still feels falling or tipping"

"The trick is to synchronize the kick that can penetrate all three levels" Cobb explains

I look down for a second before coming up with the answer "We could use the musical countdown to synchronize the kicks"

Cobb nods in agreement; as I scribble down some notes I look at Yusuf still concerned about the effectiveness of the compound. Seeing my doubts he smiles and walks to the PASIV.

"Maybe after a few tests you will be convinced" Yusuf says looking at me.

I closed my notebook and stood up, placing it on the desk nearby. Clearly I had been picked as the guinea pig due to my skepticism. He pulls a chair over and starts to fix the machine. As I took my place he handles me the wrist band, I look up and find Ariadne's eyes upon me and a slight smile on the corner of her lips. Knowing that Cobb is staring at me, I hold back my smile and look up at Yusuf and give him a nod. Before Yusuf pushes the button, I hear a chair moving. From my peripheral vision I notice Eames approaching us.

"Wait. Are you going to kick him off the chair?" he says grinning while pointing at me rudely on the face.

Yusuf just nods in response, confused and not understanding what was so funny about it. I look up and give Eames a dark glare, trying hard to avoide the impulse of standing up and punching him in the face. Instead I give a quick glance at Yusuf and nod. In a blink of an eye I am in the middle of a street, really similar to Times Square. As I start to walk on the crowded place, I look up and notice the typical billboards with Broadway plays on them. I stop on my tracks and spot something slightly different on them. The first to catch my eye is the one from the play Hairspray, at first glance it looks just like the original, but being the Point man had taught me to pick up the little details that most of the people overlook. Then I notice the eyes and mouth are slightly different, also the nose. And before I can put my finger on it, I feel something grasping me from the waist and pulling me down. The floor crumbles as I fall down. A last look to the billboard my mind finally grasps who I was looking at, the lady with blue hair was Ariadne.

I jolt back to reality, looking around startled. Then I hear a chuckle on my back, I don't need to turn around to see who is laughing at my ungraceful fall. I look up at Yusuf, he smiles apologetically and offers me a hand to help me up. I straighten my clothes and avoid Cobb's and Ariadne's eyes. I feel my ears burning, while I try to pull the wrist band off. Yusuf stops me from doing so, I look at him puzzled.

"We need to do another test, just to check how the tipping"

I feel my cheeks heating up. I hear how Eames is about to burst into laughter. Looking at Cobb he nods at Yusuf, beckoning him to continue my humilliation. I sigh and fix the wrist band once more, I close my eyes and hope the next kick isn't as embarrassing as the last one.

Now I'm inside a park, similar to Central Park. My subconscious must be feeling nostalgic. I walk a couple of steps when I notice a girl selling Pop Corn, Taffy Apples and other type of candies. I smirk remembering how I enjoyed these sweets while growing up. I approach the cart and look at the merchandise displayed behind the glass. They look exactly as I remember them. Succumbing to my nostalgic memories I glance at the girl, trying to make eye contact so I can ask for one taffy apple. The moment our eyes met the world around me stopped moving, I gulped and gave a step back. Here it was Ariadne, dressed up with a green apron and a matching cap. She smiles at me and offers me an apple. I give another step back alarmed. This cannot be happening, her projection in two consecutive dreams? This is bad. She keeps on smiling, offering me the treat. I gulp and look around, hoping for the kick to happen anytime. She gives one step closer and pushes the apple to my face, I panic and try to walk away but my legs suddenly stop obeying my commands. I open my mouth to demand her to back off, when she takes this as an opportunity and shoves the apple into my mouth. I start to choke when I feel the familiar pull on my waist and the park crumbles around me.

Jolting back to reality, I don't even bother to look at anyone. Beffudled by my dreams I pull out the wrist band calmly and hand it to Yusuf. As expected Eames is laughing on my back. I look up at Cobb and nod in approval. I take my notebook from the table and start to scribble down some notes, my face not showing any kind of emotions even if my head is working overtime at the moment. Taking our seats Cobb gives us a few pointers before we all head back to our places. Once I'm back on my desk I feel I'm gaining back control of my mind. Still it isn't enough, so I go for the second option and keep my mind busy. I open my laptop and start to search if Fisher has any sort of training to avoid extractors. But it still puzzles me how my subconscious had pulled that nasty trick on me, twice.

I place both elbows on the desk as I comb my hair with both hands. This is not the first time that this happened to me, actually most of the people I work with appear as a projection. What intrigues me is that she appeared after a couple of days of knowing her. Cobb didn't appear until two weeks of sharing dreams, so why would she be any different? Tapping my fingers on the desk I start to feel suffocated, I take a deep breath but the air is not enough. Grunting I stand up and take my jacket with me. I tell everyone I'm going to buy lunch, just an excuse to get away without giving away that I was starting to get anxious. Everyone passes me their orders and money. As Ariadne tries to offer to pay her meal I reject it instantly, explaining that her share was still on me. She smiles and thanks me for the gesture. Hearing this Eames reproaches, I merely give him a dark glare and point out that she didn't have a salary yet. Pouting Eames walks back to his desk mumbling something about women and their unfair disadvantage against men. Rolling my eyes I headed out.

As I walk on the Parisian streets with my hands in my pockets, I gaze around at the magnificent architecture that surrounded me. There was no doubt that it was one of the most outstanding places of the world. Not only it outstands by the beauty of the landscape but the buildings in it are breathtaking, no wonder any aspiring architect would be more than pleased to study here. I resist the impulse to smack my head on the wall, I am supposed to be here to clear my head and stop thinking anything that relates it to her. Frustrated I make my way to the bistro around the corner. Once inside I am greeted by the same lady that takes my orders every morning. I give her my orders in the little French I know, she smiles diverted at my poor efforts of communicating but she understands some of it and starts to work on my petitions. As I wait I go to a chair on the corner and sit, a waiter offers me a cup of freshly grinded coffee while I wait. I thank him and after he's gone, I rest my head on the wall on my back and close my eyes.

My mind starts to ramble about some details of the case when I hear someone calling me, frowning I don't pay much attention to it. Once again my name is been called, a female voice, her voice. I smack my head to the wall, hoping to kill the sound by doing it, the attempt was of course futile. Someone clearing its throat on my left brings me back to reality. I opened my eyes and look up, there was the lady gazing at me worried. I apologize and hide the best I can my embarrasment. She chuckles and pats me on the shoulder.

"La amour"

I look back at her shocked, even if I don't know that much of French but I do know what those words means. I open my mouth to retort something but no sound comes out. The lady finding this entertaining gives me a warm smile and turns around, heading back to the counter. I rub my temples with my left hand as I pull out my die from my right pocket. I toss it twice on the table, it landed both times on the number it was supposed to. I sighed and rested my head on the back of the wall. Her voice starts to call me once again, I open my eyes and gaze out of the window. Clearly my subconscious is a dangerous place at the current moment. Placing both elbows on the table, I intertwined my hands and wait for my order to be ready. As I gaze at the people walking by the bistro I sighed and closed my eyes once more. Almost immediatly she appears in front of me and this time I decided to confront her. She circles around me until I feel her face close to my right ear.

"You know you want me" she whispers, sending shivers through my spine.

Floating to my back she places her arms around my neck. I don't even bother to acknowledge her presence, knowing perfectly that this is just in my mind and nothing was real. But my subconcious doesn't seem to like being ignored, instead she starts to play with a few strands of hair from the back of my head. Cursing mentally I brush her arms off and turn to face her. She only stays there, not affected by my rudeness. Instead she bites her lower lip and looks at me with hunger on her eyes.

"You know you do" she purrs stepping closer.

I close my eyes and nod. She giggles as she places her hands on my chest. Tiptoeing she aproaches my face, her breath caresing my lips. Opening my eyes I notice hers looking straight back at me. Her hairs starts to tickle my face.

"Am I too distracting?"

I nodd feeling guilty by admiting this. She smirks and tilts her head to the right, her lips almost brushing mine. Her hands start to snake their way down to my pants but before she reaches my belt I take them with mine and stop her from doing so. She looks at me confused as raises one eyebrow. I look away, avoiding her eyes. Well knowing that if I look at them, even if it is just a projection, I will sucumb to her. I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

"Am I making you feel out of control?"

"Yes"

She chuckles, I look up at her and grasp her hands tightly

"Which is why this is end"

With that I push her away and the dream collapses as she fades away. I open my eyes and find a huge white paper bag in front of me, I look up at the counter and find the lady busy with another customer. Taking the bag I stand up and walk to the counter. Paying the bill I head out and walk back to the warehouse. Once inside I give everyone what they ordered, when I give Ariadne hers I don't return her smile. Instead I give her a polite nod and head back to my desk. Opening my laptop I resume my research and before I realize the day is over. Proud of my progress of the day I packed my things and head to the door. I was about to open it when I heard my named being called. Annoyed I turn around to face whoever delayed my departure. To my surprise is Ariadne running downstairs with my jacket on her right hand.

"You forgot this"

Blinking confused I look at her hand then back at her eyes. She smiles and hands it over. I accepted it hesitantly, still not believeing I forgot something. She waves and wishes me a good night before climbing up the stairs. Looking at the jacket I sigh, closing my eyes. Well knowing what was coming I grunted.

"It ain't over yet" she whispers in my ear.

"Shut up"


	6. Chapter 6

The following day when I arrived Cobb was already there, to my displeasure under alone. I gave him a disapproving look and made a mental note to confront him later. It had only been two months since the incident with Mal and even if couldn't see what was going on in his dreams, I have a hunch it had to be something related to her. This was certainly killing him, but the obsession to get back to his children kept him sane when conscious. What concerned me was when his subconscious took control.

I was grateful he wasn't the dreamer in any of the levels for this job, but that didn't exactly stop him from bringing his projections into them. Remembering the last work we had, I felt shivers going through my spine. What if he brings Mal again to the dream? I couldn't bare the thought of Mal inflicting pain to him or any of the team for that matters.

Ariadne like me had experienced the 'mercy' of his projection of Mal, which is a pity she had to meet her like that. Considering that the real Mal wasn't sadistic or possessive of Cobb. In fact she hated going under with us, because that meant watching us suffer and die. So most of the time she only designed the levels and watch upon us while we were under.

Every time we woke up from a job she was ready with a bottle of water and aspirins on her hand, handing them to her husband as she helped me to pack up the PASIV. But those were different times, when the jobs weren't that complicated or that illegal. She always was concerned about us, cooking for the team and making sure no one was getting sick or too tired. She was in fact lovely and a true committed wife.

I gave Cobb a last glance as I sipped from my coffee, from the expression on his face I noticed how much pain of losing her caused on his frame. I looked away and placed my briefcase over my desk. Placing my coffee right next to it I pulled out my laptop and my notepad. As I busied myself with the notes I got from a quick research back at my hotel, I heard footsteps climbing up. Yusuf appeared, he gave me a nod and head to where Cobb was. He didn't look that surprised to see him under.

I took another sip from my coffee when a couple of steps followed, to my surprise I heard giggles coming from the hallway. Giving up to my curiosity I looked up from my laptop and glanced at the door. Ariadne was the first to walk in, she was smiling openly and behind her Eames appeared. I felt a pinch of jealousy on my stomach when I saw her punch him on the arm. Eames giggled and faked pain expression while rubbing his arm. Trying not to give much thought about it I returned to my laptop.

I felt their gazes upon me but I didn't acknowledge them, trying to look busy as I wrote down some notes on my pad. From my peripheral vision I saw Eames lean over Ariadne and whisper something to her ear, I felt my stomach started to burn and I knew it had nothing to do with my coffee. She only giggled and pushed him away. I wrote the notes more fiercely than needed, resisting the impulse to look up and see what they were doing. I felt anger rising as I questioned when did that happened? Since when were they so close?

I frowned and kept on scribbling down. I heard footsteps approaching my desk, I didn't look up to check who they belonged to. But when they stopped right in front of my desk I had no option but to look up. There it was Ariadne, giving me her usual smile with her schoolbag on her right side and holding with her left hand a paper recycled container with 3 cups on it.

"Morning"

"Morning" I replied as I turned back to my desk. Well knowing how rude I acted. But she didn't seem to mind. Instead she took one cup with her spare hand and hand it over to me.

"Thought you might need this" she said pushing the coffee cup to me.

Confused I blinked a couple of times, my eyes went to my cup of coffee and then back at hers. She seemed to notice this because she withdrawn the coffee and I noticed a tint of disappointment on her eyes. I gulped and opened my mouth to say thanks for the gesture, to accept her treat, anything but no sound came from it. I heard someone chuckling on the back, I looked over her shoulder and noticed Eames approaching us. He laid a hand on her right shoulder as he snickered.

"See? Told you it was a waste of money to buy him one too"

I gave him a dark look, but he kept of smiling and rubbing her shoulder. Angered I took the cup of coffee from her hand and placed it right next to the one I bought earlier. I looked at Ariadne and gave her a small smile.

"I'll drink it after, thanks"

She seemed to like my comment because she lighted up a little. Eames shrugged as he pulled out from the paper bag he was holding a chocolate muffin, he bit to it as he raised his eyebrows and snickered. I heard noises from the corner of the warehouse. We all looked to it and found Cobb removing the IV from his arm, handing it to Yusuf and walking to us. Ariadne smiled at him and hand him over a cup of coffee.

"Thanks" he said grabbing the paper cup and sipping from it "I assume you're done with Eames' level"

She nodded "Also I finished the sketches for the second level. I just need the rest of the morning to finish the model and then I can show it to Arthur"

"Excellent" Cobb said taking another sip from his coffee, he looked at Eames "I need to go some details about Browning"

Eames nodded and both headed to his desk, leaving us alone. I looked at Ariadne not bothering to hide my surprise. Even if it impressed me that she managed to build up three levels in less than 72 hours, it still worried me. I noticed the black circles under her eyes and confirmed that in fact she was overworking. She yawned, closing her eyes and covering her mouth with her right hand.

"Are you alright?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

She blinked a couple of times and then looked back at me

"Yeah, just got… carried away yesterday"

I frowned but gave her a small smile "How long you got 'carried away'?"

She smiled and put a lock of hair behind her ear "About 7 hours"

I raised both eyebrows in shock. I left yesterday around 10 and right now it was a little pass 9, so that meant she only sleep less than 4 hours. I wanted to reproach her, say that she was overdoing herself. But somehow I suspected that even if I give her a piece of my mind she wouldn't listen, she was just as stubborn as Cobb. I felt just like Mal when she tried over and over to persuade Cobb out of something.

Ariadne yawned again, she looked at me a little ashamed and grinned with a little guilt in her eyes. I shook my head in disapproval, took the coffee she offered me earlier and hand it over to her. She gave me a confused look.

"You need this more than I do" I said half smiling.

"I already had one" she said and a third yawn formed on her mouth.

"Clearly it didn't work" I said pronouncing my smile.

She gave me an exasperated look and took the coffee. Drinking from it she looked at me a little resentful, just like a child who had been scolded and walked away with her chin high up. I resisted the impulse to chuckle at this, instead I half smiled and returned to my notes.

The morning went smoothly, Cobb called me for a private meeting about my progress on Fisher's personal information. I shared what I found on the past couple of days. Satisfied he went back to his desk and continued reading the files I gave him. As for the rest of the team, Yusuf kept working on the compound, running some tests on his lab. Ariadne was showing the model to Eames, discussing exit routes and possible paradoxes in case they're needed. It didn't take long before both were under.

A couple of hours passed by and Saito arrived to the warehouse, he went straight to Cobb and spoke in hushed tones. I was busy trying to figurate out what they were talking about and pretending to work in my notes so I wouldn't be spotted, that I didn't notice Ariadne by my side. She smiled at me and beckoned me to follow her. Confused I stood up and walk right to her desk. To my surprise there it stood the model of my level. She proceeded explaining to me the lobby and the bar where Fisher will be appearing. Also she pinpointed the possible escape routes and the places we could hide.

"Since we'll be staying in 5 star hotel you wouldn't have a problem to blend in" she said giving me a devilish grin.

I frowned and looked at her perplexed "What do you mean by that?"

She chuckled and turned to me "Well you know… with all the three pieces suits you wear daily and that Mr. Anderson aura you ooze. You wouldn't have a problem in this level"

"Mr. Anderson?"

"Yeah… you know the bad guy from Matrix" I raise an eyebrow, still confused. "You have seen the Matrix right?" I shook my head, she raised both eyebrows in surprise. "You work with the minds of the people and you haven't seen the Matrix?"

"No I haven't" I admit looking away a little angry and ashamed.

"Wow… that's like saying you don't know who Nirvana is!"

I look back at her but didn't respond. She opened her mouth in a perfect 'o'. She tried to speak but words crashed on her mouth, instead gibberish came out. She closed her eyes and cleared her throat.

"Dear lord… how old are you? 40?"

"29" I corrected her.

"Really? You're from the eighties and you haven't heard from Nirvana or the Matrix?"

I shook my head, not fully understanding how this was relevant for the level. She placed her right palm over her face. I hear a soft chuckle behind us.

"Don't blame him princess, he doesn't go out that much"

We turned and faced Eames.

"Sorry to interrupt you guys but Cobb wants both of your lovely bottoms on the meetings chairs, now"

We approached the rest of the team and took our places. Cobb started to explain some details about the first level when he turned up to Ariadne.

"How's Arthur's level coming up?"

"It's ready, I was about to show it to him earlier"

"Ok, go on then. Once you're done show it to us"

She nodded and stood up, copying her I followed her to the lawn chairs on the corner. I hand her an IV and once we were hocked up I pushed the button. I appeared in the middle of a lobby. There were a set of stairs and some benches across the lobby. On my right I spotted the bar she mentioned while explaining me the basic layout. Also to my left was the connection to the business center, just like I told her to do on the first couple of days. I looked up and admired the complexity and detail of the ceiling. The height was impressive and somewhat intimidating, just like any 5 star hotel. It was impressive she managed to pull this off so quickly, considering that this isn't the type of life Ariadne leads. So it is remarkable all the research she put into it just to make this as real as possible. I felt proud of the choice Cobb and I made.

I hear a couple of steps on my back, I turned well knowing who it was. She stood up in front of me, and for the first time I noticed how small she really was. I gave myself a couple of seconds to admire her. Her face framed by that wild yet stylized mane filled with perfectly shaped curls, her skin pale almost milky, her parted pink lips and those eyes. Those brown orbs that manage to make me sigh when they look straight at mine. She smiled at me, I returned the gesture. Avoiding my gaze she cleared her throat.

"Shall we?"

I nodded and followed her. We started with the bar at the lobby and the place Fisher will appear after the first level. Then we proceed to the lobby where the rest of us will be hidden. She beckoned me to follow her as we continued the tour to the hotel rooms. Some projections walked right pass us as she pressed the button of the elevator. It didn't take long before we heard the bell of the elevator and the magnificent doors opened up for us. I let her pass first and once inside she pressed the number 4 on the keyboard, the door start to close slowly when I hear someone calling for us to hold the door. I reached the button to open up the doors when I spotted who was running towards us, my eyes widened and quickly I pushed the button that did the opposite. The doors didn't seem to close quickly enough, I gulped and pressed the button harder. Finally the doors were sealed and the elevator started to go up. I felt the gaze of Ariadne on me, I acted like I didn't notice her. Instead I waited until we reached our destination, she didn't comment anything about my uncharacteristic behavior.

Once we were on the floor I let her pass first and she started to explain the layout, pulling out a keycard from her pant's pocket she opened the door and went first. The room looked like one of the many I had stayed in the past. Nothing extravagant, just minimalistic and elegant. Perfectly forgettable. She pointed at me at the bathroom and showed me where the PASIV should be hidden. She also explained to me that it didn't matter which floor or room we chose, it will be the same layout and the same content. I nodded and we headed out. Once we were on the elevators I pressed the button and waited for it to appear. I noticed from the corner of my eye she was staring at me, curiosity bursting out of her eyes. I turn to face her, beckoning her to express her inner thoughts.

"Why you did that?"

I knew she had noticed but still had the hope she didn't. I decided to play the dumb card.

"Did what?"

The elevator rang and opened the door for us, we entered the cabin as I pressed the button for ground floor and then the close doors. She kept on staring at me, I didn't face her this time.

"You know, closing the door"

I kept on staring at the front, watching her blur reflection on the doors. She wasn't giving up.

"It was just a projection, no need to be polite with them"

She shook her head and looked back up at me "But you were the first time I shared a dream with you"

Crap. I forgot about that time. How to explain that the person trying to board the elevator with us was my projection of her? The same projection that until the day before was non-existent. I bit my cheek and my hand instinctively went into my right pocket searching for my die, I fiddle with it a little.

"It was just a reflex, that's all" I said turning at her.

She blinked a couple of times before looking at her blurry reflection on the elevator's door. I sensed she wasn't fully convinced but she didn't push the matter further.

The sound of the kick started to ramble through the speakers of the elevator. And when we reached the ground floor, the doors opened slowly and a blinding light hit us. I woke up gazing at the ceiling, turning to my left I saw that Ariadne was still sleeping, her chest going up and down slowly in a steady pace. I pressed my lips and I got up. Pulling out the wristband and the IV, I noticed from the corner of my eye Ariadne waking up. She was about to pull out her wristband when Cobb approached her.

"Is it ready?"

She looked at me and back at Cobb before nodding. Cobb pulled a chair closer as he took out a wristband and an IV. He called for the rest of the team to assemble next to the machine and join us to this level. I handed everyone an IV with their respective white velcro wristband. As we all assembled around the machine, I pressed the button and closed my eyes.

I appeared near the entrance of the business center. I checked my surroundings looking for anyone from the team and noticed that the place was empty. I sighed relieved. I walked a couple of steps, heading to the lobby when from the right Ariadne appeared. I stopped until she got closer, she smiled at me and we continued walking. Before reaching the main floor I noticed she started to scratch her neck with her left hand. I frowned spotting this as a tic for anxiousness.

"You're alright?" I said looking at her over my shoulder

"Yeah… it's just"

I stopped and turn to face her, she was looking at the floor, pulling her hair to the back of her ear. She looked up and sighed.

"Yes?" I asked raising an eyebrow, pursuing the subject.

"I am a little nervous"

I placed my hands in my trousers' pockets and kept staring at her. She gulped and licked her lips.

"It's just that… I don't know if I'm doing a good job. What if Cobb doesn't like this level? Or any of the levels?"

My eyes widened due to the surprise. Hearing clearly the panic on her voice. Certainly this did take me off guard. She looked up, searching for reassurance in my eyes. I opened my mouth to say something but no sound came out of it. She looked down and sighed. It pained me to see her so down. Gulping I took a step closer and placed my arms over her shoulders, she looked up puzzled.

"Hey… don't beat up yourself that hard. You're doing a fantastic job Ariadne" I said giving her a reassuring smile and squeezing her shoulders a little. "Trust me, he'll be impressed"

She looked up and grinned. I pronounced my smile and let her go. Giving her a last look I turned and walked to the lobby. I heard voices, among them was Cobb's. He was discussing with Eames about the time needed for the mission.

"So what about a surgery?" Cobb asked.

"He hasn't got any surgeries scheduled, no dental, nothing" Eames responded shaking his head.

"Well, isn't he supposed to have a knee operation?"

"Nothing. Nothing they'll put him under for, anyway" Eames responded. Frustrated Cobb turned and walked away a couple of steps "We need… we need at least a good ten hours" Eames concluded sighing.

"Sydney to Los Angeles"

Both men turned to Saito, he was gazing at the lobby before walking to them "One of the longest flights in the world. He makes it every two weeks"

"Then he must be flying privately" Cobb said, pulling his hands out of his pockets and crossing his arms over the chest.

"Not if there were unexpected maintenance with his plane" Saito concluded.

"It would have to be a seven forty seven" I said climbing up a couple of steps. Everyone turned towards me, with questioning marks reflected on their faces.  
>"Why's that?" Cobb asked.<br>"Because in a seven forty seven the pilot's up top, first class cabin is in the nose, so that no one would walk through" I explained "But you'd have to buy out the entire cabin and the first class flight attendant"  
>"I bought the airline"<p>

Everyone turned to Saito befuddled by his statement.

"It seemed neater" he explained a little embarrassed by the gazes he received.

"Looks like we have our ten hours" Cobb said half smiling, he walked down a couple of steps before turning to Ariadne, she looked at him expectantly "Ariadne, terrific work by the way"

I looked at her with a cocky smile, she smirked back at me as we climb up the stairs. The rest of the dream was Ariadne explaining some minor details about the hotel to Cobb, just enough for him to understand the layout. Also she explained some escape routes for the rest of the members. It didn't take long before we're pulled out of the dream. As I packed the IV and the wristbands, everyone headed back to their duties.

Everyone was so busy to notice the sunset. Eames was the first to exit the warehouse, excusing himself with a date with a lovely redhead. I rolled my eyes and kept on my research. Not long after that Yusuf walked out too, I looked up and check on the clock on the wall it was past 10. I stood up and decided to call a night. I headed to were Cobb was, he told me he was going to stay and do some tests. I frowned but I didn't say anything, well knowing what this supposed tests meant. I shook my head and head to where Ariadne was working. She spun on her chair and pointed at my jacket on my right hand.

"I see you didn't forget it this time" she said smiling.

"I trust if I forget it, you'll be kind enough to find me and give it back"

She chuckled and I couldn't help but smile. She sighed and looked over my shoulder to the corner where Cobb was. I frowned, feeling a little pinch in the stomach.

"He's just doing some tests"

I almost bit my tongue at the huge lie I just told her. But I didn't feel it was proper to betray Cobb's trust. Ariadne gazed me straight in the eye, looking for any trace of dishonesty on them. Finding none she half smiled and nodded. I give her a slight smile before saying goodbye and heading to my hotel room. Eager for a long bath and a well deserved sleep.

**A/N:** Just corrected the shook/shock mistake. Thanks for pointing out that :) and for those who are wondering where is this heading too, I have a special surprise for next chapter. Just remember the kiss hasn't happened yet but after that, many of Arthur's desires will be unleashed ;)


	7. Chapter 7

The sound of my cellphone woke me up, grunting I turned over to the nightstand and checked the screen of it. As expected it was a private number. Rubbing my eyes with my left hand I took the cellphone, flipping the cover up and turning the lapm on.

"Yes?"

"Mr. Arthur, it's Saito"

Frowning I cleared my throat and sat up straight. "How can I help you, Mr. Saito?"

"I need you to get ready. Maurice Fisher just passed away. I'll be picking you up in 20 minutes"

Click. I sighed and pulled the covers away. Checking the alarm clock on my nightstand, 2:25am, I walked to the bathroom and after 10 minutes I was ready. Being efficient was one the few good things I picked up due to the nature of the job. Sadly I didn't have the time to pack all my things, but since mostly were only clothes and were on the cleaners of the hotel, I decided to ask the manager to mail them to me. She didn't seem that surprised with my request. After handing over the keycard and signing some release forms I walked out the hotel. It didn't take long before a black Jaguar pulled over.

Opening the back door I jumped in the vehicle. Saito greeted me with a nod, which I returned. After saying we were heading to the warehouse to pick up Cobb and the Passiv, he started to explain me about the procedure the Fisher family will be taking. I took my briefcase and pulled out my notepad when I noticed that my laptop was missing. I cursed remembering that I left it back on the room. Putting this matter aside I started to take notes. When we reached the warehouse I wasn't surprised to see a couple of lights in it, well knowing who still remained inside. I opened the main entrance door and let Saito walk in first, as we climbed up I heard voices. Opening the main floor door, Saito barged in.

"It's time. Maurice Fisher just died in Sydney"

I walked to the right and turned the lights on. As suspected Cobb was next to the PASIV machine on the corner, but what I haven't predicted was that he wasn't with Yusuf this time, instead Ariadne was sitting right next to him. I contained my surprise and walked right next to Saito.

"When is the funeral?" Cobb asked, straighten it up on his chair.

"Thursday in Los Angeles" Saito responded.

"Robert should accompany the body no later than Tuesday. We should move" I said walking a few steps closer.

Cobb stood up and started to fix his things from the table. I took out my notepad from my briefcase and started to check some notes. I heard Ariadne and Cobb speaking in hushed tones, apparently discussing. I noticed Saito walking closer to them, when I heard Cobb sighing.

"Get us another seat on the plane"

I looked up from my notes, what just happened? I looked up searching for Cobb's eyes and discuss about this sudden and reckless decision, but Cobb already left the building with Saito behind him. Ariadne avoided my gaze and walked to her desk, I frowned and pressed my lips, something must had happened… something big. I walked pass her, to the chairs were clearly Cobb and Ariadne were sharing a dream, and start to pack the PASIV. Ariadne did the same with her things. It didn't take long before I was finished, assuming she might too. To my surprise when I looked over my shoulder to check how was she, she was staring at the first level model that laid on top of her desk. I raised an eyebrow and turned completely.

"Ariadne?"

She jumped at the mention of her name and turned to face me. For the first time I noticed what she was hiding, fear. Must be the leftovers of Cobb's dream. I tilt my head and walked with caution a few steps closer to her, trying not to scare her with any sudden moves.

"Is everything alright?"

She looked down and shook her head. I gulped and rage started to bubble inside me. What the hell you did to her this time Cobb? I licked my lips and placed my briefcase on the nearest desk and approached her. She kept staring at the floor, her eyes looking for answers. I dared and took her by the arms and give her a little nudge. She came back and stared me directly in the eye. She looked like a dear on the highway, waiting to be crushed by a car. I felt how my throat went dry and how hard is for me to swallow; it had been a while since something had shaken me this hard.

I resisted the impulse to hug her, calm her down and take her in my lap and whisper positive things on her ear. Instead I tried to comfort her with my eyes and after a few strokes on her arms with my thumbs she nodded. Letting her go I picked the PASIV, walked to the main door, she followed me quietly. Once on the frame of the entrance, she looked up and gave me a small smile. It pained me that she didn't give me the usual big one. I nodded and turned off the lights. Once outside I checked the surroundings and once everything was clear I pull out my cellphone and dialed.

It didn't take long before an obnoxious voice responded me.

"Hello Darling. I suppose since its bloody 3 in the morning, you must be feeling lonely and randy. Want me to go there and give you a massage?"

"Shut up and get ready, we're leaving"

"Oh Arthur, I knew you had a backbone somewhere… Where to sweetie pie?"

I frowned and pressed my lips tighter, how could this man managed in less than 5 seconds to annoy me? He started to laugh while I in my head I started to count to ten, slowly.

"Alright, alright. Don't get you panties twisted pumpkin. I'm on my way"

Click. I took a deep breath and placed the phone back to my jacket's pocket. I turned to face Ariadne she seemed calmer now.

"We must go, Cobb and Saito must be already on their way to the airport"

"But I don't have my papers with me. Also I will need a change of clothes"

I smirked and felt the urge to pat her on the head, it was always charming how the new ones worry about these mundane things. When our client had just proved how powerful he is by buying an entire airline for this mission.

"No need. We'll get new ones on the airport, proper for the mission. As for your papers, Eames forged some for you"

She blinked in confusion and her mouth slightly opened in surprise. I noticed in the corner of my eye a yellow car approaching, I hailed it and it parked in front of us. I opened the door on the back to let her go first. She was still staring at me dumbfounded; perhaps her mind was finally grasping the whole thing. I scooted next to her and told the driver where to and with that we stayed in silence for the next half hour, watching the buildings go by through the windows.

From time to time I checked on her, just to see if she was ok. She sighed and pulled out her cellphone from her bag. She started to dial a number and placed it on her ear, biting her lower lip, clearly ashamed. After a couple of seconds she started to speak in French. Since it was private conversation I tried to distract myself with something, but some words and the voice on the other line caught my attention. She was apologizing to a male. I couldn't help but frown and look at her. She avoided my gaze, clear sign for me to back off, which I did unwillingly. After a minute, or so it seemed, she saved the device in her bag.

I gave her a quick glance, trying to look nonchalant, doing my best to hide the fact that her conversation with another man stung in my stomach a little. I assumed she would be calling her roommates and explain where would she be the next couple of days, so they wouldn't raise the alarm. But I didn't expect her calling a guy. Curiosity spread through my head and started to grow in such a quick pace that my head started to ache. It's just an innocent question, a question anyone was entitled to. However my respect for her privacy stopped me, yet it wasn't enough to tame my desire. I made up my mind and decided to ask casually while reminding myself that it had nothing to do with my personal affairs, I was doing this because I'm the point man and I must know everything.

"I don't mean to pry but may I ask who were you speaking to?"

She kept looking at the window, like she didn't hear me. Before I repeated my question she turned and faced the back of the driver's seat.

"Michel"

I tried hard to avoid the impulse of rolling my eyes. True I knew almost everything from all the members of the team, but their private lives I keep them the way they were supposed to, private. So she telling me a name didn't say anything that helped me. I know that her father is not named like that, nor a relative and clearly wasn't the name of her landlord. Seeing as it was the first call and apparently the last, it leaded me to think two possible options. One it was a really close friend or two a boyfriend. Well I already asked a private question, might as well push my luck a little further and ask another one.

"Your boyfriend?"

She looked at me and blinked a couple of times in confusion, then on the corner of her lips a small smile appeared or so that seemed. It was really dark to tell. She turned back to the window and continued gazing at the street through the windshield. After a couple of seconds she responded.

"I wouldn't call him that"

Facing me she smiled widely, like her usual self. I raised an eyebrow confused, curiosity burning through my skin.

"And why is that?"

She chuckled and stared at the ceiling, apparently reviving a memory or enjoying my suffering.

"Because he doesn't find me attractive"

I frowned skeptic "I am sorry, I just find that hard to believe"

She chuckled and looked up at the ceiling once more. I noticed a light shade of pink on her cheeks, but the street lamp that passed by didn't give me enough time to verify it. She looked back at me and smiled.

"Well… it's just that he doesn't find attractive girls in general, if you get my drift"

I blinked in surprise I certainly wasn't expecting that. And judging by the way my face looked, she found funny how I took the news.

"He's my gay roommate" she explained.

I frowned and my memory immediately started to double-check her record. I remembered reading something about two roommates. One was an American named Rachel and the other one was Michelle. In that moment my mind finally connected the dots, I kicked myself mentally for not catching this at the first time. I turned at her and smiled apologetically.

"So what did you tell him?"

"That I was going on a trip to Lyon with a guy"

I lie back impressed, I didn't expect the highly efficient and innocent looking architect to be capable of having a dark side. And by the sound of the call either she was a good liar or she had done this 'escapes' before.

"Didn't he find it weird you leaving this abruptly?"

She shook her head.

"No, he just said me 'use protection' after threatening me to kill me if I woke him up again"

I chuckled and so did she, before we realized we were already on the airport. I sighed knowing what that meant, it was the end of these bonding times. From now on it will be long, stressful hours, which I hoped they weren't that painful. Not on her first mission, which I wished wasn't the last. I haven't talked to Cobb about it, but it will be a lot of help if she stuck around for a couple of jobs. I had never found this much potential and talent in such a young person. Maybe if everything went according to plan, we could go back and do it the old ways. Like the days when Mal was around.

The cab parked on the sidewalk, I pull out a bill of 100 euros and told him to keep the change. I offered my hand to help her out, after closing the door the cab drove and left us us with a cloud of dust. I motioned her to follow me, as we entered the airport my cellphone started to ring.

"We're here"

"Quantas desk" Cobb's voices replies.

"Got it"

I hung up and started to walk to the international lines, Ariadne following me closely. As we approached I noticed all the team assembled on the desk of the Australian airline. Eames was the first to spot us he waved and smiled widely. I assumed he was glad to see Ariadne. Cobb was speaking on the phone while Yusuf was checking his luggage. As for Saito he was on the front desk, guarded by his two orangutans, speaking with the flight attendant. Must be really nice to tell you're the owner and you need to move some passengers from their first class flights so he and his "friends" could board.

"So… what took you so long darling? Having a little fun time in the office with the princess?" winking at Ariadne. She only rolled her eyes and a light shade of pink appears on her pale cheeks. I just ignore him and go straight to Cobb. Taking mental notes of that blush.

He dismissed me, apparently he was speaking to Miles. I sighed and looked at the group, waiting for Saito to finish with the documentation. After a couple of minutes Saito approached us with the flight tickets and the schedule. The flight would be departing in two hours, it would take us 20 hours to travel from Paris to Sydney. The first scale would be in Hong Kong and latter Sydney. That left us with just a day and a half to spare and get ready to board the next flight to L.A. As for the seating, thankfully I didn't have to share my seat with Eames. Instead he was sitting with Yusuf. Saito preferred to go alone and so did Cobb, leaving Ariadne with me, which I couldn't help but smile internally.

Eames opened up his briefcase and pulled out some documents, he started to distribute them along with a credit card. I looked up inquisitively; he only smirked and pointed with his thumb at Saito, clearly a courtesy. Cobb ignored us and parted to the gates, Saito motioned Yusuf and me to follow him. I looked over Ariadne, she gave me a smile which I returned with a small one. It didn't take long before Eames breaks the moment by placing his arm around her shoulders and pulls her to him.

"Oh don't worry Darling, I will take good care of our princess here" winking at her and shaking her a little, she rolled her eyes and chuckled.

I gave him a warning glare, which of course he deflected.

"We're just going to be shopping on these lovely stores, nothing else unless she wants to. Which I wouldn't say no, obviously" putting his hand under her chin and raising it, almost as he's was going to kiss her. She chuckled and pushes him away gently, muttering moron.

I rolled my eyes pretending it didn't affect me, picking up the PASIV and moving to the gates. Saito gave me a nod and walked to the security panel, followed by his bodyguards, Yusuf and one of the flight attendants. As we reached the main entrance, the flight attendant approached the guard, clearly as a distraction. With a quick maneuver I passed the PASIV, my briefcase and Yusuf's luggage. Before the guard could say anything we were already walking to the waiting area of the plane.

Once inside we split up and went to different directions, I decided to go and purchase another set of suits and a luggage to carry them. Thankfully the airport had some designer stores open. After a quick glance I walked to my personal favorite, Armani. It didn't take long before I exited the store with two brand new three-piece suits, with matching ties and shirts. I walked right to the next store, looking for a silver case to put all the new garments in it. Thankfully the store sells Rimowa, which is not only practical but also resistant and discreet. I took the travel size I placed carefully the suits inside and paid. Checking my watch and verifying I still got time before the flight crew started to board, I treat myself with a French roast espresso of Starbucks.

I locked the portfolio over the suitcase and walked just like any other businessman to the waiting room, sipping my coffee. The room is almost packed, but since we're traveling first class I headed to the VIP room, right next to the gate. There's no one here but the team. Cobb is glancing out the window, Saito speaking on his cellphone, his two bodyguards nearby, Yusuf on a chair near the door rocking back and forward on his chair. As for Eames and Ariadne, they're nowhere to be seen. I tried not to look annoyed by that and took a seat sit right next to Cobb. I try to talk to him about his decision of including Ariadne on the dream but he didn't even bother to look at me, but I'm so much used to that to be affected. I took mental note to approach him later with this subject. So instead I pulled out my cellphone and start to review some documents in it while waiting for the rest of the team to appear or to be called by the front desk, whichever happened first.

The sound of heels clicking the floor disturbed the silence on the room, I assumed it was just another passenger. I kept on reviewing the documents when I heard the sound approaching closer to where I was seated. I kept on reading until by the rear of my eye I spotted a pair of 4 inch black leather heels standing in front of me, I frowned and finally bothered to look up and see the owner. My jaw must had dislocated, I certainly didn't expect Ariadne, our little architect, to wear that kind of shoes. Blinking in surprise my eyes starts to scout shamelessly the rest of her outfit. She was wearing a long black skirt that reached just under her knees, a white blouse with flounces on the front and a black blazer wrapping her upper body. I looked back at her face, noticing a pair of pearl earrings. She brushed her hair to the back of her ear and found a matching ring. I gulped and stood up to compose myself, fixing the knot of my tie and clearing my throat.

"So… what do you think?" she asked turning around slowly giving me a clear sight of her back.

Dear lord… why did you just do that for Ariadne? I gulped and cleared my throat once more and I nod her in approval. Her smile slightly weakens, clearly she was hoping for more. I swallowed and cleared my throat for the third time.

"It looks perfect… " The words escaped my lips before I had the time to process them. I felt my cheeks burning and her eyes glistened with happiness "I mean for the job" trying vainly to save my last statement.

If my nod was such a bad move, this was devastating. Her brow went down, clearly disappointed. I felt a sting of pain on my chest, as I try to make her look up and make amends. An arm rounded her shoulders and pulled it closer to the owner.

"Oh don't listen to this prick, princess. I'm sure his job has sucked out all the manhood he had left, which I believe he didn't have much to begin with. As for me I think you look ravishing, isn't that right Cobb?"

At that moment I remembered Cobb was next to me, he only looked back from the window and checked Ariadne from toe to head. He nodded and returned to look out the window. Ariadne smiled at his approval, just like when he complimented her back when we were checking the dream levels. We were interrupted by a female voice, asking for the first class passengers to board.

Taking our belongings, we approached the flight attendant and passed the door one by one. Usually by protocol they would have checked us again before boarding, but just a glance from Saito to the girl on the desk, stopped them from doing so. Cobb passed first, followed by me. I didn't pay attention who followed next, I just wanted to get to my seat and distract myself with work.

Once inside I placed my suitcase above, I requested Cobb to pass me his laptop so I could keep on working on the last details of the case. He looked at me surprised. He nodded and pulled out from his briefcase. Before handing it to me, he told me he has seen me a little off from a couple of days. I look at him with a raised eyebrow not fully understanding. He shook his head and hand it to me muttering never mind. Thanking him I sat on my place and turned the computer on, waiting for it to start and giving a second thought of what he said. It was true that in the last couple of days I wasn't as sharp as usual, I blamed that to the complexity of the job. I had never performed Inception so that must be getting to me. Before I can go deeper on that thought the rest of the team appeared.

It didn't take long before they took their places and put all their belongings away. Ariadne tried to maneuver her red suitcase on top of our seats, failing miserably and cursing under her breath. I put the laptop on her seat and tried to help her out when out of nowhere Eames appeared and with a wink he helped her out. She smiled and thanked him I just gave him a reproaching look. He winked and left to his seat chuckling. Fuming I pulled out the laptop from Ariadne's seat and started to open some files. It didn't take long before she sits right next to me, I tried to look busy but my eyes keep betraying me by taking sneak peeks at her.

The moment I almost truly lost it, was when the flight attendant approached and offered us a beverage. In that moment Ariadne decided it was a good idea to cross her legs and ask for a glass with apple juice. I gulped and looked away ashamed, trying hard to focus in other type of thoughts so when the flight attendant asked me what I wanted I almost stuttered. I cleared my throat and asked for water. Ariadne looked at me with a raised eyebrow and asked me if I was all right. I nodded and focused all my attention on the monitor, thankfully she uncrossed her legs and started to check the Airline Magazine.

After a couple of minutes the flight attendant approached us with our drinks and left to lock the compartments and proceed with her job. The plane started to move so I turned off the computer and placed it under my seat, fastened my seat belt and gazed out the window on my right, placing my hands on the armrest. The takeoff went smoothly until a current of air made a little turbulence, a hand grasped my left tightly. I turned to look at the owner, she had her eyes wide shut and started to mumble things to herself. I frowned worried but once the turbulence was over she relaxed her hand but didn't move it. Perhaps she was expecting another jump but it didn't come. She opened her eyes and sighed, then noticing her hand on top of mine she pulled it away ashamed.

"You ok?" I asked raising a brow.

"Yeah… I just don't like turbulence" she admitted ashamed.

I chuckled, finding adorable her innocent remark "No one does"

She looked back at me and smiled, I nodded and pulled out the computer from under my seat and started to work. From the corner of my eye I noticed Ariadne reached for her brand new purse, she gazed at the details of it, admiring the design and the material. I half closed the computer and looked at her.

"You can afford all the collection once the job is done" I told her giving her a sly smile.

She looked back at me shocked then back at the purse. I smirked and returned to my computer, opened the note pad and typed a figure. Turning the computer to her, she leaned over to see the screen.

"This will be deposited in your account once we land on L.A."

"Holy shit!" she exclaimed with her eyes and mouth wide open.

Her loud remark made everyone around look upon us, she blushed and apologized.

"Darling can't you keep it in your pants until we land? We're trying to sleep here" Eames muttered while turning to the opposite direction, sitting in a comfortable position.

I glared at him while Ariadne blushed even more. Yusuf chuckled and resumed reading his book, Cobb only looked at me and frowned. Somehow I knew what that glare meant. Great… thank you so much Eames. As for Saito, he keep staring the window like nothing happened. I rubbed my temples in exasperation, opened the computer and continued working.

An hour went by in silence and I decided to check on the rest of the team. Yusuf was still taking some notes from the book he was reading, Eames was sound asleep with his mouth half open. I rolled my eyes and hoped he didn't start snoring any time soon. Cobb had his eyes shut, but I knew that he wasn't sleeping. He was just resting his eyes, even if it is hard to believe there's such a thing. Saito was working on his computer. As for Ariadne she was watching a movie on her Ipod, she looked once she noticed my eyes and smiled. I nod at her and she kept watching her device.

Moving my head until the neck gave a crack, I closed the computer and put it away. It was 8am in Paris, the lack of sleep was starting to show up. My body began to complain, my eyelids suddenly feeling heavier, also a yawn was forming in my throat. I rubbed my eyes with one hand. As I reached for the sleep mask, provided by the airline, I fixed my chair so it will imitate a single bed. Ariadne raised an eyebrow once she saw me up. I didn't say anything, instead I let my actions speak for me. Once my pseudo bed was ready I look at her and with a tint of shame I removed my shoes. She smirked and shook her head. Putting aside my embarrassment I placed myself in a comfortable position and drift into sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

When I woke up I pulled away the sleeping mask and noticed the cabin was immersed in darkness. I checked on my watch and realized I had slept for 10 hours straight. It had been a long time since my body could do that, I blamed the lack of sleep from the previous nights and the huge amount of stress in these two weeks. Naturally I had no memory what happened in my dreams or if I had any. I didn't bother much in that thought, since it happened to everyone that shared too much dreams. So sitting up and taking the blanket off my body I scouted my fellow team members.

As expected the flight attendants had dimmed the lights and all the windows were closed. Almost everyone was sound asleep in their individual beds with their sleeping masks on them. I noticed that Cobb's seat was empty. Having a hunch where he might be, I took my shoes and fixed my seat quietly. I noticed from the corner of my eye Ariadne shivering a little, I looked up and noted the air conditioner to the max. I closed the ventilation; she mumbled something and her face relaxed. I resisted the impulse to touch her face and pull a lock of hair to the back of her ear, instead I smiled and walked out the cabin.

I was almost immediately boarded by one of the flight attendants, she asked me if she could help me with anything, I just told her I needed to go to the first class lounge. She nodded and walked me to the adjacent pub to the first class cabin, the room was nearly empty, just a couple of businessman speaking in low voices and drinking. The flight attendant kept on walking until we reached a spiral staircase on the corner. I thanked her and climbed up.

Like most lounges it had several black leather chairs spread symmetrically through the area, on the corner there was a bar with tall-leathered stools and on the walls there were some bookshelves packed with all sorts of books and magazines. I spotted Cobb on the corner of the right, drinking what appeared to be Scotch and glancing out of the window. If he noticed me he didn't acknowledge my presence. I walked to him and took a seat in front of him. He didn't look up, instead he milked his drink and kept on glancing the clouds passing by. A waitress approached us and after telling her I wanted a vodka tonic, she left.

I kept on gazing at Cobb until the waitress returned with my beverage, I thanked her and took a sip from it. Instantly the warming sensation spread through my insides, relaxing me on the process. I laid back on my chair and looked out the window. We stayed like that for a couple of minutes before I remembered the reason what I wanted to speak to him alone. I sipped another shot of vodka before placing the glass on the table between us and gazed him.

"Cobb?"

He took another sip and looked at me for a brief second and continued gazing out of the dark sky. Knowing this meant he was listening. I took a deep breath and sighed. Better cut the chase.

"Why is Ariadne on board with us?"

He took another sip from his Scotch before placing the drink on the table and crossing his arms over his chest. He gave me a look, which I sustained until he looked out the window once more.

"That's none of your business"

A pinch of anger settled on my stomach. I pressed my lips and frowned.

"Last time I checked I'm still the point man of the team. It has all the business to do with me"

He looked at me for a couple of seconds, daring me with his piercing cold blue eyes. Taking in and analyzing every move my body made, looking for something to hold against me. I held his gaze challenging him. We stayed like that for what it seemed 10 minutes before he broke the eye contact and took his drink. Sipping from it he looked over his glass at the window before returning to me. He placed the glass on top of the table and crossed his arms again.

"Just in case we need her"

I raised one eyebrow skeptical "We or you, Cobb?"

A shade of rage crossed his eyes. He glared me for a couple of seconds until he blinked and any trace of anger disappeared. We stayed in silence, the waitress returned and asked if we needed something else. Cobb asked for a refill. Once she was out of earshot I continued.

"She's not prepared for this"

"She'll be fine" he said playing with the ice of his glass.

"How do you know that? Last time we were on a job Mal shot me on the kneecap. And on her second dream experience she got stabbed by her"

"You worry too much" he dismissed looking away.

"Forgive me for trying to do my job" trying to not raise my voice.

"It has nothing to do with your job. You're doing this because you care too much for her" he said tuning and giving me a cold stare.

The waitress interrupted us, she placed a napkin on the table and Cobb's drink on top of it. She smiled at Cobb and returned to the bar. Silence fell again, I looked out the window avoiding his piercing eyes. From the corner of my eye I noticed Cobb taking his drink and wiggling it.

"You like her?" he said after taking a sip, it felt more than a statement than a question.

I took my drink from the table and drank half of it. I sighed and placed the glass on the table once more, avoiding his gaze by staring at the floor carpet.

"What are you going to do?" he asked me half emptying his glass.

I looked up and faced Cobb's stare but instead of finding his cold merciless blue eyes, I found concern printed on them. He was looking exactly as he looked at James when he was scared. Coincidentally that was exactly how I was feeling, afraid. I shook my head dismissing the thought, took my drink and swallow the rest of it. Playing with the glass with both hands I looked at the floor carpet once more.

"I don't know" I admitted ashamed.

I noticed he bending over and placing his right hand on top of my shoulder, he squeezed it gently. I looked up and noticed a slight shadow of a smile on the corner of his lips. I sighed and nodded. He pulled away.

"I guess once this job is over I'll decide" I said scratching the back of my neck with my left hand, placing the empty glass on the top of the table.

"That might work"

I frowned and looked at him questioningly. I noticed a smirk forming on the corner of his lips.

"Might? I need to do better than might"

He chuckled and I couldn't help but join him, it had been a long time since I heard him chuckle. Relaxed I asked the waitress to give me another drink, Cobb asked for another one. It didn't take long before we had two empty glasses each and half bowl of cocktail peanuts. We were chatting about the old times when I heard a couple of firm steps approaching us.

"There you are chaps" Eames announced as he gave a quick scan to the table "So starting the party without me? That's rude even for you darling" he winked at me as he pulled over a chair.

The waitress approached us and after a shamelessly filtration of Eames, he ordered an Abbot Ale. The waitress giggled before returning to the bar, followed by Eames' hungry stare. When she looked back, he winked at her making her giggle even more. I rolled my eyes and took another sip from my drink. The waitress returned with his beer and with a napkin, which I didn't need to see to know it had her phone number in it. Eames grinned at her before returning to us.

"So what were you two jibber-jabbering about?" he said taking a sip from his beer and saving the napkin in his jacket's pocket.

Cobb gave me a knowing stare, a hidden smile on the corner of his lips. He took a sip from his Scotch and looked back at Eames.

"Just jibber jabber" he said

After another round of drinks the waitress approached us and said that dinner was going to be served on our cabin. Feeling the hunger rising we stood up and walked out of the lounge, thanking the young woman, Eames more enthusiastically than needed. I noticed the pub downstairs packed with people chatting along and having a drink. Also the environment of the plane seemed louder than before.

As we entered the cabin the lights were on and the rest of the team was already up. Everyone turned their gazes to us, I couldn't suppress a smile when Ariadne's eyes met mine. She gave me a small smile and kept on watching me until I took my seat next to her. She didn't say anything, instead she kept on watching while listening to her ipod. I felt uneasy having her watching over me, feeling my neck pricking I resisted the impulse to scratch it. Instead I looked at her and smiled with a raised eyebrow. She chuckled and shook her head. The flight attendant handed us each a menu and asked us what we liked to drink. This time, to my disappointment, Ariadne didn't cross her legs.

Dinner went on smoothly, the only voices were Saito's and Cobb's on the corner. The quietness was shattered when Yusuf scolded Eames for eating his chocolate truffle, which he denied. Ariadne started chuckling when Eames stood up and took shelter behind her seat, avoiding a threating Indian man with a fork on his hand. I rolled my eyes and glared each of them. Ariadne burst into laughter when Yusuf requested her to hand over the thief-British-oppressor, Eames looked at him dumbfounded and said that he didn't deny the thief part but he had nothing to do with the slavery of his country. Enraged of his ignorance, Yusuf threw the fork he had on his hand at Eames. It landed on Ariadne's forehead instead.

Almost instantly I jumped off my seat and went to her aid, Eames was roaring with laughter while Yusuf kept on apologizing over an over from where he stood. The flight attendant shocked by the display of 'violence' walked to the chemist and started to give him a lecture about the hazards of doing something as stupid as that. She was about to call security when Saito interceded and talked her out of it. Grunting she removed the silver utensils of Yusuf's table and replaced them with plastic ones. This encouraged Eames laughter even more as he held his stomach with one hand and the other on the back of Ariadne's seat for support. I glared at Yusuf and then at Eames as I kept on rubbing the forehead, I requested the flight attendant a sterilized wipe. Once she returned with a whole box I took one and started to rub over the injured spot.

"You ok?" I asked rubbing as carefully as I could

"Yeah… I just hope it doesn't turn into a scar"

Yusuf approached us, biting his lips "I am very sorry Miss Ariadne"

She shook her head and smiled "It's ok"

Yusuf smiled relieved and gave a smack on the back of Eames' head. He chuckled and ducked to Ariadne's eye level to see how she was. I rubbed for the last time the spot where the fork hit.

"How does it look?" she asked hopeful with half a smile on her lips.

I was about to answer when Eames pushed me aside and took a closer look.

"Well princess you look just like Harry Potter"

She chuckled and pushed him, making him fall on his butt. He grinned. I stood up and glared once more at the two troublemakers. Yusuf apologized one last time before going to his seat. Eames offered to get her anything but she only dismissed him saying that she was ok and perhaps he will do more harm than help. He faked a pain on his chest as he dramatically went back to his seat. Cobb approached us a minute later asking if she was ok, she only responded that it was nothing compared with what she had to endure with her older cousins. Cobb smiled and returned to his place.

Dinnertime was over and when the flight attendant retrieved the dirty plates, I wasn't surprised to see her a little grumpy. I didn't put much attention. I pulled out the computer and resumed my research, checking once in a while at Ariadne. Fortunately she didn't develop a bump much less a scar. Relieved I continued with my work.

A couple of hours passed by, silence reigned on the cabin once more. I noticed that Yusuf was deeply focused on his research, Saito and Cobb were concentrated on a chess game and as for Eames he had managed to go out of the cabin without me noticing. I felt my eyes pricking, I pinched the bridge of my nose and closed my eyes.

When I opened them I noticed on the corner of my service table a napkin. I frowned and took it and turned it over. It had printed a tic tac toe on it, a circle was already on the center. I blinked confused and turned to my left. There was Ariadne with a pen on her hand and a mischievous smile printed on her face. I smiled and took one of my pens from my jacket's pocket and drew a cross on the left inferior corner before handing it to her. She licked her lips after two seconds she handed the napkin. It had a circle on the left superior corner, I drew a cross on the right inferior corner and handed it back to her. She bit her lower lip and after putting her mark she gave it back. I saw the circle on the remaining corner. Placing a cross between the two circles I handed it to her, she frowned and gave me a knowing look. I smiled smugly. She shook her head smiling, she scribbled something and gave it to me. On it the tic tac toe was crossed and a new and clean one was right next to it. I smirked and put my cross on the center this time.

I don't know how long we stayed like that playing, or how many times we asked the flight attendant for more napkins, the only thing I knew is that we had small hill of paper on top of our service tables and the score was still a tie 20 to 20. I crossed the last tic tac toe, drew a new one and handed the napkin to her, she looked at it and smiled. She gave me a look before turning to the napkin, shielding me from seeing what she was doing. I raised an eyebrow curious. She looked up and hand it back to me. Instead of her mark on the tic tac toe there were 7 short horizontal lines and a large upside down T on the corner. I frowned and looked at her questioningly, she smirked and took the napkin again and wrote something down, giving it to me after she was done.

There was a message on top of the napkin.

'You never played hangman?'

I rolled my eyes and smirked, anyone with a childhood and with a public education had. Writing down my 'Of course' I gave the napkin back. She took an unused napkin and wrote something on it before handing it to me.

'Let's raise the stakes'

I frowned intrigued

'What do you have in mind?' I wrote

She smiled before writing her response and handing it back

'A free coffee?'

'You call that raising the stakes?' I mocked, she only chuckled and bit the back of her pen before writing down something and giving it to me.

'How about dinner?'

I bit my lower lip, hearing a warning voice screaming on the back of my head. I looked at her from the corner of my eye before returning to the napkin in front of me. I felt intimidated by the blank space where my response should be. I gulped and look at it, reading the phrase over and over. Sighing I wrote on it as fast as I could and hand it to her. She read it and smiled, she hand the piece of paper back. There was a smiley face on the corner. I smiled back at her and took the napkin with the hangman on it.

The napkin went back and forward as I ran out of choices, apparently the obvious options like an 'a' and 'o' weren't that effective as expected. I went with the 'l' and 'm', futile as well. Growing desperate as my hangman grew with each mistake I resorted to the desperate move, using all the vowels. The 'e' and 'u' turned out to be effective. But now I had two blank spaces, 'e', blank space, 'e', 'u' and a blank space. Frowning I looked closer to it, trying to figurate out a hidden meaning. But remembering that my logic led me to complete a caricaturized suicide, I decided to screw logic and go along with hunches.

I went with the letter 'r', she smiled and drew an eye on my hangman. I used the letter 'k', another eye for my man. Now he could see how I let him die. Frustrated I tried to write down the letter 'z', but as I hand the napkin to her I noticed that my 'z' looked more like a 's' I tried to retrieve the napkin but when I got it back I noticed that I had two blank spaces, e','s','e','u','s'. Reading the incomplete word again I couldn't help but smirk like a chesire cat. I wrote down the missing letters and hand back the napkin to her. She looked at it with both brows raised before smirking and nodding at me. She took an unused napkin and after a couple of seconds she handed it to me.

'Ok, but I'll choose the restaurant'

I shook my head and wrote down my response smiling.

'As long as it doesn't have a clown for a mascot I'll be fine'

She snickered and punched me friendly on the arm. I smirked even wider when the sound of a beep announced that we had to buckle up our seatbelts. The flight attendant passed to our places and started to pick up our scattered papers, a little ashamed we tried to help her out. Ariadne gave all the napkins on her table except the one she had on her hand. I smiled at this gesture but didn't comment anything. As the flight attendant started to pick up the things that were on the way, Eames appeared on the cabin, with a beer on his hand and a smugly smirk on his lips. I had a feeling why he was so happy and I knew it had to do with he being late and untidy.

Once everyone was on their seats we waited for the captain's announcement, we would be landing on Hong Kong in less than 20 minutes. He proceeded with the weather and the usual information for the connecting flights. The flight attendant passed with immigration forms on her hand and pens on the other. As each of us took one and filled it, I checked my portfolio as I placed the laptop inside my briefcase. I didn't think Cobb would need it on the next flight either. Fastening my seatbelt I placed my hands on the armrests. The landing went smoothly so that meant no Ariadne's hand on top of mine, but I didn't mind. I was still excited by the prospect of a dinner with her. Even if it was only a casual encounter as friends.

After the plane stopped, it unleashed a series of methodical events. Everyone took their suitcases and exited the plane. As we headed to the connecting flight section, we all handed our papers to the girl waiting on the entrance. She signaled the boarding room for our next flight to Sydney. Once on the waiting area, we all took our seats once again on the VIP section. For the expressions of everyone no one seemed pleased with the idea of boarding another plane, even if the flight only lasted 5 hours.

Exhausted I laid back on my chair and waited for the staff to prepare the plane so we could board. I glanced out of the window this plane was smaller. Pinching the bridge of my nose I took out my paperwork and checked the type of plane it was. To my disappointment it didn't have a lounge or bar for that matter. Luckily the first class cabin was small too so we wouldn't have to share our seats with strangers. I noticed on the corner of my eye as Cobb beckoned me to join him. I took my suitcase and sat next to him. He looked everywhere before lowering his face and looking at me.

"I need you to reserve in four different hotels a room"

"Why four?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Just a precaution. I don't want Fisher to find out that the same people who shared the cabin with him stayed at the same hotel the day before"

I nodded as I took out my notebook and started to scribble down.

"We will spit up once we land on Sydney and meet only when we board the plane to L.A"

Nodding I started to write down some other notes when the thought hit me, I looked up at Cobb concerned.

"What about Ariadne?"

"What about her?" he asked with a weird look on his face.

"Well she doesn't know how to defend herself of the projections in case they turn ugly"

"Shit… I forgot about that" he said slapping his forehead. He pressed his lips until they turned into white. He looked up to Ariadne, she was chatting enthusiastically with Eames at the moment. Cobb analyzed her for a couple of seconds before turning to me.

"You two will stay in the same hotel, one close to the airport. So it wouldn't be that strange for two passengers to take the same flight. It wouldn't be a problem if you check in at different times"

After writing the last note I closed my notepad and looked up at Cobb. He was still concentrated looking at Ariadne, gazing at her in a parental way. He sighed and looked back at me.

"Teach her the basics, she won't need more than that for this case"

I nodded and saved my notepad inside my jacket's pocket. The voice of a female with poor English announced that the first class passengers were now boarding. Taking my suitcase and the machine I followed Cobb to the gate. After the normal procedures with the clerks of the front desk, I boarded the plane. This time however I was sitting with Cobb. I didn't mind that much, after all I had pending work and some reservations to do. Still that didn't stop me from being envious of Eames sitting next to Ariadne or the many times he managed to make her laugh.

The plane took off sooner than expected and once the sign of electronic devices was off, I pulled out Cobb's computer and started working. I focused on reviewing the case over and over during the flight, reviewing some information with Cobb from time to time. After an hour the flight attendant approached us with breakfast and warm beverages. Sipping my orange juice I took my notes and giving a signal to Cobb, he closed the curtain for the first class cabin.

I proceeded explaining to all what would happen in the next 24 hours, handing them their reservation numbers. Everyone, except for Saito who would be staying in a private hotel, would be taking a cab to their respective hotel and depending the case they will check at different times. Eames was the first to complain since his hotel was in the middle of downtown I dismissed his moaning. When I explained Ariadne what her instructions were and the reason why our case was different than the rest she nodded and gave me a small smile. I felt my stomach make a small jump at the perspective of being alone with her once more. I slap myself mentally and walked back to my seat.

The rest of the flight went quicker this time. Before I could check for one last time the overview of the case the sign of seatbelts was lit and with that all the same procedures went by. Landing, picking up luggage, Immigration, walking out the airport and acting like no one knew each other.

It was Sunday; we arrived at 11 in a chilly morning on Sydney. My course of action dictated I had to wait at least a couple of hours so Ariadne could pick up her cab and head to our hotel. I decided to kill some time on the stores in the airport. After boring myself with clothing and souvenirs stores I walked out the airport and hailed a cab. I told the driver which hotel and after a couple of minutes I was pulling out my luggage from the trunk. Paying the driver a generous amount I walked to the lobby and checked in under an alias. Once I had my keycard I wasted no time heading to my room. When I opened the door and sat over the bed the jet lag hit me with such strength that I still don't know how could I ever managed to sit and take out my cellphone. I dialed lazily on it, after two rings a babbling voice responded. I smirked.

"How about that dinner tonight?"

A chuckle resounded on my ear, making my smile grow bigger.

"Sounds good to me"

**A/N:** I changed the Singapore to Hong Kong, I was checking with the Qantas website and the Hong Kong route is faster. For those confused about the flight thing they took off at 8am on a Friday and landed at 10am on Sunday. That gap of 'God I missed a day' it's called jetlag, for those who travel west to east know what I'm talking about ;) Also I wanted to post how the first class cabin looks like but this doesn't let me put links so if anyone interested PM me :D


	9. Chapter 9

I still don't know how I managed to contain the excitement in my voice once I heard her affirmative response, almost ready to dance across the room at the prospective of a evening alone with our pocket sized architect. As I told her I'll see her around 7, giving her plenty of time to rest before heading out, my hands were already checking the yellow pages. The second we ended the conversation I spotted an ad that looked promising, but just to be sure I pulled out my laptop to verify it on the net. Just to be sure. But the instant I opened the browser and I clicked on the search engine, my cellphone started to ring. I frowned and placed the computer aside; once I took a look on the screen and recognizing the number, I groaned before picking up.

"Yes?" I said, keeping my tone as calm as I could manage.

A cheerful voice exploded on the other side of the line "Hello dumpling! How are things over there with our beloved pixie?"

Closing my eyes, I started to rub the corners of them with my right thumb and middle finger. "What do you want Eames?"

"Oh just here… Bored out of my mind, since Poppa Cobb grounded us from doing anything interesting."

"And by interesting you mean hooking up with strangers and bringing them to your room?" I stated acidly, well knowing before hand the evident answer.

"Precisely."

I could almost picture him grinning through the line.

"So, what are you two little minxes are up to?" He asked, interrupting my thoughts and breaking the silence.

I rolled my eyes at the suggestive tone in which he had spoken, but decided not to give him the pleasure of knowing he was succeeding in exasperating me. Instead I opted for a different course of action. As I heard clearly through the speaker the unmistakably sound of a bottle of beer been opened, I decided to counter attack in that instant.

"Dinner and sex" I stated calmly, just like I was declaring the sky was blue.

The sound of him chocking with the sip of beer he clearly had drunk, followed by the scandalous cough, put a smile on my face. As I waited for him to finishing catching his breath and regaining the ability to breath normally, he cleared his throat.

"You're taking the mickey, aren't you?"

"What was your first clue?" I said with a light tint of sarcasm, smirking satisfied.

I have to confess that I was expecting him to get molested or even trying to respond with another comeback, instead he started to laugh openly. I frowned and raised an eyebrow questioningly, waiting for him to continue.

"My, my… so you do have a sense of humor somewhere beneath all your smuggliness."

"Apparently." I responded dryly, trying hard not to lose my patience. "And smuggliness isn't a word" I clarified

I waited for a couple of seconds in silence, so Eames could get the hint that I didn't want to talk to him. Instead he started to rattle his teeth.

"Eames?" I asked after a couple of painful seconds of listening do that disgusting and childish sound. Working really hard not to lose my temper.

"Yes pumpkin?" he responded nonchalantly.

The groan that was begging to burst out of my system almost made it out, but once again I pushed it aside. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing he had an effect on me. "You need something?" I asked dully.

He started to hum for a couple of seconds, apparently trying to give me the impression of been submersed in deep thought. Well knowing that it was another of his taunts, I started to count slowly in my mind. By the time I reached 10 I knew he was intending to keep on until I surrendered. Which sadly it had to be done.

"Eames?" I repeated my question with a slight tint of annoyance.

"Hold! I'm thinking" he started to hum once again. It took him ten seconds more this time before he finally answered. "Nope, nothing in my mind."

"There's a shocker." I responded matter-of-factly before I started to grow impatient.

Eames chuckled, deflecting my insult. "Easy, darling. Don't get your knickers in a twist. Well since you're back to your stick-stuck-in-the-arse mode, better bother someone else. Preferably someone born with a sense of humor."

And just like all the many previous occasions, I repelled his taunt by ignoring his comment and rolling my eyes.

"Good bye. Mr. Eames" I said before punching the red button on they keypad, and placing the cellphone over the nightstand.

As I started to loosen up the knot of my tie with one hand, I sat on the border of the bed and took back my computer. Resuming the task at hand. I had already browsed through three websites about the restaurant before I was ungallantly interrupted. Once again my cellphone decided to plot against me and come back to life. This time however I didn't repressed the groan, however the second my eyes recognized the number on the screen, I pushed my annoyance for another moment.

"Arthur here."

"How are things over there?" the distinctly voice of Cobb filled the speaker.

"Nothing to report." I responded automatically, checking instinctively the surroundings.

"Good" he paused for a moment before proceeding. "Ariadne?"

"In her room, resting."

There was a pause; I could almost hear Cobb's thoughts through the line. But I waited patiently for whatever he wanted to say.

"Give her a couple of hours, then proceed as we planned." He said in a commanding tone.

Nodding I replied mechanically. "Understood."

"And Arthur?"

"Yes?"

"Don't do anything stupid"

And with that he hanged up, without giving me a chance to respond or even say anything about it. Placing the cellphone back on the nightstand I made myself comfortable on the humongous king sized bed. Before cursing the physic abilities of Cobb I started to think about Cobb last words, finding them peculiar. It seemed that he still didn't trust my judgment. Which it was sort of unfair, considering that so far I had behaved in the way he had indicated me. Also it was unexpected considering that we had talked about this topic (I refuse to call it issue since it isn't hurting anybody) during our flight to Hong Kong. How come Cobb still acted towards me like the first day of this job? Haven't I proven myself enough? Apparently not.

But even if I was molested by the mere suggestion of me going along something that clearly could be counterproductive to the mission, somehow Cobb's words had lit up a few alarms inside my head. As I kept on rethinking about the outcome of a casual dinner between two colleagues, that happened to like each other's company or so I presume, my nature as a Point man kept on pushing Cobb's warning in front of my eyes.

After reviewing the possible scenarios I came up with the conclusion that Cobb might not had referred to the dinner with Ariadne as something stupid, perhaps what he tried to imply that the stupid thing was to do something during the mission. That was more probable that my first assumption, also it made more sense considering that Cobb was as competent for personal advisor as Eames in Chemistry.

Taking the firm choice of postponing the dinner after the mission was successfully completed, I took my cellphone and started to dial, already regretting to cancel just minutes after she had answered positively. Once I dialed up her number and was ready to push the call button, I hesitated. Glancing around the room, I saw nothing out of the ordinary from but the typical five star hotel furniture and my luggage on the corner. And there where it hit me, as I headed to my baggage and saved the cellphone in right pocket, the idea that sprouted inside my head started to grow in such a wild hustle, that I almost end up sprinting towards my luggage. Once in there I pushed aside my traveling bag, pulling out a silver case hidden beside it. Smirking I took the shiny case and placed it on top of my bed and opened both safety locks. Once I had checked that everything was in order, I couldn't suppress a grin. It looked like I could still proceed with my original agenda after all.

Satisfied my decision I safely secured the PASIV inside the wardrobe, when that was done I took out from my luggage my personal items, placing them on the restroom. Pulling the drapes I walked to the mirror on the corner, checking my reflection I opted to brush my teeth before taking a nap, once that was settled I stripped my clothes and placed them in the closet. Pulling out a set of nightclothes, I made myself comfortable under the covers, letting my mind drift into possible scenarios for the upcoming events. Before closing my eyes I programmed the alarm on my cellphone and punched the pillows a couple of times, before treating myself with a well deserved rest.

-.-

As usual I woke up before the alarm started to ring, once again I dreamt of nothing. Not like it was a terrible lost or something alike but from time to time I wondered how was it before I enrolled myself in this sort of business. Trying hard to remember the feeling of having the last traces of a whimsical dream, slipping right in front of my eyes as the day started. True not all the times I could remember what I was dreaming, but at least I knew I was dreaming. But for the past couple of years my mind apparently lost the ability to perform that mundane task. And in some occasions, like this, I found myself missing that feeling.

Shaking my head I pushed these thoughts out of my head and pulled myself out of the mattress, checking that in fact I have one hour to get ready and head to her room. And wasting no time I jumped, not literally of course, right into the bathroom. The hot stream of water hitting right into my back was well welcomed as my muscles started to relax. I found myself humming a song I wasn't sure it existed. But I couldn't help myself to calm to this unfamiliar tune as I washed myself.

It didn't take me long to be cleaned, freshened up and neatly dressed. With a quick glance at the alarm right next to the bed I noticed I still have 10 minutes to spare. Deciding it was for the best just to head out and be early, I took out of the closet the silver case as I secured my handgun on my back beneath the suit. You can never be to careful, specially with devices like the one on my right hand. And even if we weren't exactly in the open, it was better to have something to defend one in the case of something unexpected decided to show up.

Taking the keycard I secured the door and started to walk to the elevator at the end of the corridor. Pressing the button I waited patiently for the moving silver cage to appear. A soft chirp announce its arrival, thankfully it was empty. I don't know exactly why, but I find myself disliking sharing a six per six-foot steal prison with anybody. So as I pressed the number of her floor, I waited for the door to close. Her floor wasn't that apart from mine, but walking down stairs with a delicate machinery like the one I'm holding, wasn't exactly my idea of fun. Besides I preferred to use stairs for other purposes, like paradoxes.

A couple of seconds later I was walking out of the elevator, her room just around the corner. Before knocking her door I checked my watch and smiled proudly of my perfect timing. Glancing to both opposite directions I raised my arm and knocked twice, just loud enough for her to hear but not to startle her. I heard a couple of sounds behind the door before I heard the unmistakably noises of her struggling with the locks. And just like all the cheap movies I had seen in my life, the door opened slowly revealing her petite figure covered in a delicate crimson dress that just barely reached her knees with a tasteful flounce, perfectly adjusted to enhance her modest curves. Curves that until that moment, I was unaware she possessed. The neckline was provocative, shaped according to line of her breasts, enhancing them nicely. And to top it all, she was wearing the same 4-inch black leather heels that I found myself hooked at since the moment she walked on them.

Deciding that I had been obvious enough, I diverted my eyes back to her face, she was wearing her hair like she always styled it. But what surprised me more than her shoe ware, even the dress. It was that for the first time I could finally appreciate the fine and delicate form of her neck. No scarves, no tall neck shirts, no pulled up coats. Just pure and creamy exposed skin. Taken back by this I cleared my throat and looked back to her eyes, apparently she had noticed my shameless ogling because in that instant a mischievous smile appeared on her lips along with a soft pink blush coloring her cheeks.

I cleared my throat and tried to act casual the best as I could, considering that my mind apparently decided to go on vacations. Giving her a slight smile I motion with my right hand permission to enter her room, permission that was granted as she stepped out of the way to let me in and closed the door behind her. I tried to occupy my mind with other mundane aspects like the décor of her room, but the impact of her appearance had shock me in more way than one. I was desperate to compliment her on her outfit, well knowing that she had probably spent a well couple of hours in pulling it off and that women no matter age or race liked to be complimented. Also there was the issue of Cobb's words speaking right into my ear.

I sighed before turning to face her, there she was with her arms behind her back expecting for me to do or say something. At the moment I was succeeding in not succumbing into my primal instincts of removing that mesmerizing choice of outfit with my long fingers as ravished her exposed neck with my teeth, but then she decided to pull a nasty trick and bit her lower lip, sending my mind back to holidays. I gulped, desperately looking for something to do or say so the tension could finally break. Thankfully she decided to spare me from my suffering.

"So… where to?" she asked, pulling her arms from behind and swinging them on the sides playfully.

In that moment finally my mind reconnected and remembered the reason of my presence in there. I cleared my throat as my engines started to function once again. I pulled up the briefcase and showed it to her. She tilted her head to the right and raised and eyebrow recognizing instantly the dream machine and clearly questioning the purpose of it in the room. A slight smile appeared in the corners of my mouth, as I turned and placed the machine on top of her bed. As I started to unlock the case and pulling out the cables, I sensed her right next to me, she stared at the machine before looking up, still her eyebrow raised inquisitively. Well knowing what that gaze meant, I decided to explain.

"Turns out, Cobb doesn't want any of the team wondering around the city, at the risk of being spotted. He wants our presence to be as imperceptible as possible." I said turning back to the machine and pulling one cable for myself. "So our dinner out has to be… slightly altered"

I handed her one of the cables. She looked at it for a couple of seconds, before taking it with her small hand and giving me a small smile. As I started to fix the machine, she pulled out the glass container that held all the cotton balls and the antiseptic. Before plunging the needle in her arm, she hesitated before heading to the end of the room and bringing a chair with her. I looked at her puzzled she only shook her head smiling.

"I am not wrinkling this dress by laying on the bed. Eames would kill me if he finds out."

I smirked and continued fixing the machine. Deciding it was a good idea to use a chair, I walked to the end of the room and brought with me the remaining one. She smiled approvingly as she inserted the needle in her right arm. Copying her actions, I fixed my own IV and sat right next to her. I was about to fix 5 minutes on the timer when her small hand stops me from doing so. I looked up confused she only smiled at me.

"If I'm picking the place, I pick up also how long we're staying there right?"

I blinked once before I nodded and handed her the keypad, she cheerfully accepted it and typed 1 and 5. A slight frown appeared across my face.

"Just trust me on this one, ok?" she said smiling.

I nodded and waited for her to get comfortable on her chair, once she was ready she smiled in consent and with that I pressed the button that pulled us from reality.

-.-.-.-.-.-

**A/N:** It's been a long time, hope some of you will forgive my lack of updates. To my dismay I had chewed bigger than I could swallow (no pun intended) so here I am stuck with 5 pending works. Ain't life bea-u-ti-ful hehehe. Anyhow hope you had liked this chapter, now let us see what happens with three hours under ;)


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